Inside the Gallery Rewriting the Rules of Portraiture

The gallery occupies the ground floor of a former warehouse, and nothing about it announces itself. There is no sign, only a door and a woman at a desk who will ask whether you would like a cup of tea. It is, by the time you have finished the first room, one of the most interesting places in the city.

The current exhibition asks a simple question: what is a portrait for? The old answer was status. The newer answer was likeness. What the curators have assembled here suggests a third: a portrait is an act of attention. Some of the pictures are of family members, some of strangers, and a few are of the artists themselves. All of them are slow.

The standout is a series of large pastels, each of an older relative, drawn from memory over several years. They are not flattering and not unkind. They are simply true, and standing in front of them feels like being let into a private conversation.

Go on a weekday morning, when you will have the rooms to yourself. There are benches, which is more than most galleries manage.