One of the problems I have with German neo-expressionism is that there seems to be such a lot of it about. But maybe this goes some way to explaining why, against all expectations, I found myself quite enjoying Young & Wild? at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Not only is this exhibition, comprised mostly of work from the museum’s collection, diminutive enough to be fairly painless even for someone who feels distinctly sceptical when faced with the talents of an artist such as AR Penck or Salomé; it’s also mildly invigorating, its fizzing brevity working to replicate the feeling of the heady historical moment in which some of these pieces were made. It has an explosiveness – riotous colour; an intense resistance to circumstance – that will carry you along, if not for the rest of the day, then at least into a few of the Ashmolean’s bigger and more contemplative galleries.
