The Daily Telegraph

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Julian Opie’s images are like Pop Art rewritten with the clarity of lavatory door signage. With their radically simplified, round-headed figures, thick black lines and flat colour they’re instantly recognisab­le.

Since his emergence in the early Eighties, Opie’s images have achieved astonishin­g popularity. His Blur’s Greatest Hits album cover from 2000 is one of the great graphic images of our time. The downside of this high profile is that you may wonder what an exhibition of Opie’s recent graphic work will offer that you haven’t seen before.

This concern is amplified when you’re barely through the door, with five thick black-lined, black-and-white images facing you. These pictures, however, move. Opie’s goldfish appear to wriggle from the top of the image to the bottom and back, as you move back and forth in front of them. And his rowing boats bob up and down remarkably convincing­ly considerin­g they consist of just six lines.

In the second gallery, two large silkscreen­ed prints show huddled commuters hurrying through rain, immersed in their thoughts, headsets or mobile phones. The flat parallel view and interweavi­ng rhythmic movement bring an anomalous echo of classical friezes. Opposite are a group of images showing what Opie does best: figures reduced to absolute black-line essentials, looking at mobile phones or staring into space, their faces blanks, except for the odd pair of sunglasses. There’s almost nothing to them, but they have the stripped-down, slightly enigmatic appeal of images that are designed to be addictive. Until July 18. Details: alancriste­a.com

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