An eccentric Ray of might

EXHIBITION REVIEW: Raymond Pettibon

You've really got to be mentally limbered up for a Raymond Pettibon exhibition, and being in the right mood helps. This is not because it's really clever stuff (it isn't): just that you're bombarded with so many gnomic phrases, captions and borrowings.

But try to spot any thematic groupings, or some sort of logic in the display, and you'll quickly find you're flogging a dead horse: there are superheroes and dictators; there's some religious imagery and some soft porn; there's a couple of scrappy paintings of a dollar sign, Warhol style; there's a train crash sequence - it just goes on. So relax and let it sweep over you.

Pettibon is an LA artist who rose to prominence in the 1980s on the back of his work with graphic fanzines and underground comics.

Though his own level of draughtsmanship is a little clumsy, a little too heavy-handed (he draws like someone with an obsessive-compulsive disorder, scratching away at the same spot until his pen threatens to bore a hole in the paper), he's clearly been influenced by the 'Pow! Splat!' New York comic book style of the 1950s.

Along with his current work, upstairs you can also see a series of drawings from his early days. Framed and neatly hung, his style has become slightly looser and a little scrappier since then. Apart from this, you can't really say there's been much in the way of development.

Until Jan 31, Sadie Coles HQ, 35 Heddon Street W1, Tue to Sat 10am to 6pm, free. Tel: 020 7434 2227. Tube: Oxford Circus