Step-On Can with Leg

Other early works feature deadpan renditions of visual aids .... suggesting the portrayal of women as an extension of the household appliance in America's consumer culture. (Exhibition leaflet.)

Drowning Girl

When I arrived at Tate Modern yesterday, I was feeling tired, caffeine-depleted and I'd already spent the morning dozing through a film that I was quite keen to see.

In fact, if you were portraying me as a household appliance, I'd be the vacuum cleaner that has lost its Vrooom, not a pert leg flipping up a trash can.

But Whaam! ... you can't deny the energy in a room full of Lichtensteins. I love their ambivalence and the way they seem to celebrate the vitality of popular culture, whilst commenting wryly on what Lichtenstein described as 'a sort of anti-sensibility that pervades society.'

So I woke up (I self-medicated en route with puff pastry, raspberries and Chantilly cream at Maison Bertaux) and enjoyed Roy's riffs on Matisse, Picasso and Monet.

Still Life with Goldfish

And was surprised by his delicate Chinese landscapes.

Landscape with Philosopher