Pop artist celebrates new works

The exhibition runs until 22 December

New works by British pop artist Allen Jones are to go on show in London to mark his 70th birthday.

Jones, a contemporary of David Hockney at the Royal College of Art, has produced more than 30 works for the exhibition, which opens on Monday.

They include paintings, prints and watercolours made over last two years in England, China and New Mexico.

Jones is best known for his sculptures Hatstand, Table and Chair, which depict semi-naked women acting as furniture.

He said: "I am almost exclusively involved with the figure and the way it is presented rather than with the anatomical reality or correctness of the human anatomy.

"And so theatre, any form of artifice, appeals to me."

Born in Southampton in 1937, Jones studied painting and lithography from 1955 to 1959 at London's Hornsey College of Art.

Until he was expelled in 1960 he was part of the group at the Royal College of Art - also including Hockney, RB Kitaj and Peter Phillips - who were instrumental in developing British pop art.

The Allen Jones At Seventy exhibition is at the Alan Cristea Gallery, London, until 22 December.