Art review: Crucified Jack is a little bit wacko

CONTROVERSY sells, that's a truism of art and many people will come to this exhibition drawn by Gregor Laird's triptych depicting a crucified Michael Jackson or the artist's Gunter von Hagens-like images of a dissected King of Pop, which is a pity as these paintings are actually the least interesting works in this show.

The idea of the Jackson pictures is to take a look at celebrity, image and the cult of death, but Laird overworks the metaphor and unlike the other section of his work in the show, it all seems very clumsy, like the obsessive work of a teenager.

Laird's paintings of birds on the other hand, though no less Gothic and anatomical than his other works, possess a disturbing counterpoint between the almost 18th century perfection of the painting and a clear obsession with death.

Two of the most affecting images are his pinioned Cock Robin and his flock of the same species roosting on the de-fleshed skull of a deer – either of which would make the perfect twisted Christmas card for your emo-obsessed teen.

The exhibition is shared with fellow artist Sarah Green whose section doesn't possess the clarity of themes that Laird's has but contains instead a broad selection of works linked only by her clear fascination for close up imagery.

Green's work contains some wonderfully haunting imagery from pictures of people trapped behind gauze or other opaque substances to beautifully detailed paintings of children's toys, which, taken out of context and treated to her close-up portrait technique, seem chillingly isolated. Her best painting, entitled Mask, is a uncanny disembodied image of a woman's face that stays with you long after you've left the exhibition.

This a good show with many intense and intriguing pictures on display, if you can bypass the hype there's some genuinely powerful work to be seen here.

Both artists have produced paintings that challenge the viewer to deal with the visceral and raw but the best works in this exhibition are those that set out to provoke not merely shock, which in the end is what good art should do.

• Run ends August 1