This is the first show of this year's Artists Up Front Street exhibition organised by the Masterworks Gallery. Over the next three months, 12 local artists will be presenting one-man shows, running for just two weeks each.

I hadn't heard of Sophie Cressall before but apparently she graduated from Goldsmith's College in London three years ago.

The one thing I do know about her is that her work stands out as something completely different from the vast majority of art that is produced on the Island.

This exhibition, which features a mix of drawings and sculptures, is different in that it has the power to be strangely unsettling.

The numerous charcoal portraits are cartoonish and nightmarish at the same time.

But it is in a self portrait that Cressall is at her most unnerving.

A lifesize statue of the artist, taken from a mould, is the focal point of the display. The figure holds a portable television which displays a close up of Cressall staring back at the viewer.

It's actually a video recording but one couldn't help feel that Cressall was in some back room somewhere carefully studying each spectator as they study the sculpture. The feeling of being closely scrutinised made me feel incredibly uncomfortable.

Cressall has created various other sculptures of herself out of shrink wrap and another out of Plaster of Paris. Taking these moulds must have been pretty uncomfortable and I'm not too sure if the final results are worth it.

But a self portrait print, featuring four images of the artist's face was also unconventional, looking more like a death mask than an image of living flesh.

The Masterworks gallery should be congratulated for giving local talent an opportunity to put on individual shows.

It might not be what the tourist market is looking for, but if the remaining contributors can match the standards set by Cressall in this particular exhibition, the rest of the series, which runs through until September, should be a treat.

Cressall's work is on display until next Friday, March 26.

Gareth Finighan