Norman O’Flynn’s recent paintings are rooms without people. They are filled with the things we choose to live with: books, sculptures, works by artists such as Lichtenstein, Haring and Kaws, and superhero figurines from childhood. Yet the chairs are always empty. We never see the occupants. We only get to know them through what they have chosen to put on display.

In HIP TO THE CAUSE, that quiet act of display takes on a sharper edge. Today the objects, slogans and symbols we surround ourselves with are no longer just a matter of taste. They have become statements of allegiance. We support causes, share them and wear them, often less out of conviction than out of a need to be seen on the right side. Social media rewards this performance and punishes nuance. It steadily pushes us into opposing camps, where there is little room for doubt, debate or middle ground.

O’Flynn’s rooms read like carefully curated profiles, with every item placed to signal who lives there and what they stand for. He leaves out walls and ceilings, so these private spaces are never sealed off from the world outside, and ideas, opinions and pressures flow freely in and out. His technique adds to the effect. He paints in reverse on the back of acrylic glass, so each image is seen through a glossy, reflective surface, much like the screens through which we now encounter one another.

Pop art has always borrowed the language of advertising and mass culture. O’Flynn uses the same bright, instantly recognisable vocabulary to hold up a mirror to a culture where being seen to care can matter more than caring.