Lichtenstein lags behind

12:21pm Thursday 13th May 2004

Hayward Gallery: Roy Lichtenstein's paintings exert an almost supernatural power over the observer.

Walk into the first room of the current exhibition at the Hayward gallery and you'll find yourself transfixed by his cartoon-like depictions of the world - many complete with caption.

You may also notice other people in the room doing the checks most of us are tempted to perform on first encountering a Lichtenstein: standing up close to the painting, looking at the dots, in amazement, one-by-one.

Can he really have done all these by hand? As you go round the gallery, however, you'll probably want to walk up close to each piece. But the need to examine the dots will fade, as you become used to his technique.

Lichtenstein launched his pop-art, cartoon image style on the world in New York 1961, and, at the time, it was highly controversial: he was labelled the worst artist in the US by Time Magazine.

But it did not take long for the notoriety of his larger-than-life cartoon canvasses to turn to popularity: they were humourous and made accessible through an apparent inner narrative - particularly the series featuring "Brad".

Lichtenstein played with more avant garde subjects in his later years - interiors taken from magazine adverts, surrealism (still in the cheap print-dot style), and huge canvasses of shining, emulsion brush strokes.

Each painting is individually striking, and the technique still feels iconic.

But just as the need to closely inspect each painting in the exhibition fades, so the works themselves blend together until by the fifth and sixth rooms it becomes difficult to recall the individual works, the textbook covers, the brush strokes and the stretcher frames of the preceding spaces.

Great artists will often use many techniques through their lifetimes, and find new themes to intrigue or, nowadays, shock spectators.

Perhaps one thing this exhibition shows is that though Lichtenstein developed one of the most visually impressive techniques of the 20th century, his inability to move beyond it meant only the earliest works are widely remembered.

After that it just wasn't all that impressive any more.

Roy Lichtenstein
Hayward Gallery
South Bank Centre
Until 16 May.

Browse through our Roy Lichtenstein Gallery