TOWER Street gallery According To McGee welcomes painters old and new to help celebrate itsYork ReMastered winter exhibition in York.

Work from "old hands" such as Richard Barnes, David Baumforth, Freya Horsley and Samantha Snowden sit next to works from inaugural McGee exhibitors Matt Shepherd, Robin Grover-Jacques and Jess Crichton.

"It's no secret that in a contemporary space, less is generally best, but it's Christmas," says gallery co-director Ails McGee. "The work from our York cohort is so, so good, and selling so well, that we thought, 'let's just get it all in and mash it together', whether it's David Baumforth's beautifully crisp seascapes or Samantha Snowden's succulent colour-scapes."

Ails reckons Richard Barnes's latest city scenes chime with UNESCO's designation of York as City of Media Arts. "It's a right and an obligation of a city like York to straddle both the traditional and the technological, and to do it with style and a sense of humour," she says. "It's funny how Richard's paintings demonstrate, as ever, an artist in love with both the ancient architecture of York and its modern vibe.

"We've had browsers pointing at them and asking if they were created especially for the UNESCO status. Well, no, they weren't. Richard has been able to divine the excitement and forward-thinking energy of York for years. The UNESCO status isn't a cause for this new excitement, it's more like a reflection of it, or a symptom."

York College alumnus Matt Shepherd has produced a series of York scenes that match Richard Barnes for experimental mischief. "York College produces artists of the highest calibre, and whether we dovetail them with graduates from London's Goldsmiths, or York's contemporary painters, they seem to fit in beautifully with any exhibition we run," says Ails.

Shepherd is deepening his involvement with According To McGee after playing an instrumental part in this autumn's Illuminating York festival exhibition. "My work is a fusion of old skills: monoprinting and then adding solid colour from my iPad," he says. "It seems to fit well with the work of Richard Barnes, and the theme of 'remastering York' is an exciting one with a lot of mileage."

According To McGee has linked up with Sheffield's Llama Digital, whose downloadable app will enable browsers to access information about the gallery's artists. "We're the first gallery in the city to get so techno on this front, and it's already won us new clients," says Ails. "Buying a painting is a little easier when you can read about its back story on your smartphone. This City of Media Arts, thing, it's not as pie in the sky as you'd think."

York ReMastered will run until January 20 2016.