Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art’s 4-4-1 exhibition is an excellent concept that brings together artists who do not have the volume of work required for a solo show.

It follows the format of four artists, each with four paintings united in a single theme. This exhibition includes a mix of emerging artists, Lisa Ty and Khalid Muhammad, and established artists, Rachael Antonition and Alice Coutet.

I was relieved to see that the display of the work in the Rick Faries Gallery was much improved.

The art in previous gallery shows has tended to suffer from overcrowding. It is a relatively small space and therefore it is critical that the walls are not congested for effective viewing.

Lisa Ty exhibits four compelling portraits in graphite and charcoal.

They show an artist with a high level of technical ability, especially in the rendering of skin tone and texture.

She casts a forensic eye on her subjects in closely cropped head portraits extracting minute detail in work of high realism.

Unfortunately, realism is not reflected in her prices — some pieces cost in excess of $5,000. Bermuda’s finest professional artists cannot command such prices for the equivalent medium and size.

Rachael Antonition’s small photographs of the natural world seen in micro scale are subtle and well lit but just miss the mark, in the balance of light and shade she is seeking, to convey the abstract in nature’s forms.

The America’s Cup is a source of inspiration for Alice Coutet in three acrylic pieces. I suspect — if the form guide is anything to go by — many more AC 45 yachts will propel island canvas over the next 18 months.

It could become tedious. Artists risk entering the creative doldrums having, perhaps, chased the wind of commercialism.

Capturing these incredible racing yachts as they rise from the water demands a special skill. Coutet’s AC — Get Up lacks the execution to be convincing.

Coutet has a gift to produce a realism that is, at its best, both engaging and beguiling; evident in the colourful sunlit scene Alexandria.

She picks out, with acute awareness, changes in the water’s surface from glassy reflections to the intricate patterns of rippling water.

Here, her work achieves the most life as she relies less on her propensity to sharpen the majority of lines and form.

Sunset at Flatts is an example of how the apparent sharpening of the motifs — where the relative light areas of the painting are made lighter and the darks darker — can be distracting. Its overuse can result in a homogeneous dullness.

Khalid Muhammed is a student artist. His large-scale charcoal work is assiduous: searching for his voice through tonal compositions studies.

Ultimately, despite endeavour, a lack of cohesion makes the quartet fall flat in a show that misses collaboration between the artists as well as central theme.

The show runs until March 9.