Fashionably-clad parachutists, a gorilla being stood up on a blind date, women stranded on lake of floating pool tables and a man burning his worldly belongings in a bath - all subject matter explored in a new exhibition at Pump House Gallery.

Emerging artist Robert Stone hosts his first significant London solo show with his Polka Fever exhibition that features a number of strange protagonists and their foolish displays of flamboyance.

Executed with a distinctive and eccentric painting technique that borrows much from Oriental and English landscape traditions, the characters hover in Romantic landscapes or pastel toned skies.

"The most successful paintings seem to be the ones that confuse me," said Stone.

"When I can't remember if I've invented the image or remembered it.

"Pictures that are entertaining and embarrassing are the ones that work best for me."

Born in London in 1981, Stone graduated with a Masters from Slade School of Fine Art in 2005 and was selected for the Bloomberg New Contemporaries.

He also took part in the artist residency project Take Over at Pump House Gallery in 2007, since which he has painted for intense periods of time, working primarily in Berlin and Zurich.

Among his reference and influences he includes Henri Rousseau and his primitive style, the vignettes of Edward Burra and the early renaissance Italian painters Fra Filippo Lippi and Giovanni di Paolo.

Robert Stone: Polka Fever, Pump House Gallery, Battersea Park, July 29 to September 20, 11am-5pm, free. Call 020 7350 0523 or visit wandsworth.gov.uk/gallery