There is something unnerving about going to an art exhibition in a Cambridge college. It feels slightly like going to a friend’s house and finding out they’ve opened a show of their own artwork to the public. Not that this would necessarily be a bad thing – several of my friends have produced some pretty nice paintings over the years. It’s just that it wouldn’t be the same as a gallery, or a classroom, or even an empty or found space. There is something slightly personal and, well, weird about it.

On a strange kind of level, this idea isn’t hugely out of kilter with the artist’s message. Rae’s work essentially explores what it means to experience a place, from the bleak moors of Western Scotland to the terraces of Collioure in Southern France. She uses paint and objects in a layering process which reveals as it conceals: a raised strip of paint is shown, just as we realise an almost identifiable object is hidden underneath. Her straightforward emotional descriptions of a moment in space have a universal logic to them which is, at times, compelling.

Strong moments are created when striking colours and vague forms came together to feel satisfyingly whole or complete. ‘Yesnaby Field’ is one such example, in which compartmentalized ground and sky meet and it seems as if we too can understand how Rae felt in that place and time. Other works are best appreciated up close when texture and detail instead of shape chiefly create atmosphere. In ‘Favorot Blue Vine’ a handkerchief and some curlicues of an old looking script emerge through a swathe of paint. We wonder what this secret history might reveal on closer inspection.

On the other hand, the display can be overwhelming. There are, perhaps, too many colours and textures in such a small space. Though there is a richness to this, something is also lost, especially in the large works.

Nevertheless, Rae’s paintings are definitely worth seeing. Most of us have an acquaintance at the college, some of us go there, and the rest probably live a five minute walk away. They might remind you of somewhere you miss, or visited a long time ago. Or simply another room in college.

Barbara Rae at the Graham Storey Room, Trinity Hall. In association with the Adam Gallery, London.
Until 4 December. Open every Sunday afternoon 2-5pm.Artist’s talk: Friday 25 November at 5.30pm at Trinity Hall. Contact Mary Richmond at events@trinhall.cam.ac.uk if you would like to attend.