To many the word 'Pop' often assossiates with cynical Andy Warhol and his Fun Factory, but there is another, more subtle and uniquely British take on it found in the works of Peter Blake.
Sir Peter Blake at work, still shot from Ken Russel 1962' s BBC Documentary film ''Pop Goes the Easel
A lot has been said about the artist's fascination with the popular arts and the mass consumption of iconolatry but what is less known is the fact that Peter is a true storyteller, often treating his work as a story with an open end.
Peter Blake's paintings and collages sometimes remind of an unfinished symphony, full of sentiment and nostalgia.
''D is for Dwarfs and Midgets''
Blake takes the typically Pop art technique of appropriation - the use of found real objects and ephemera to create a witty criticism of the movement itself. The result - playful images, subtly inverted to comment on and capture the spirit of an era - that of the swinging 60s.
''Wink''
In one of his earlier interviews, Blake says that he always found contemporary art too serious but he managed to keep it all playful. Traces of that artistic mischievous and absorbtion in Bristish mass culture can still be found in many of his early editions like the ones juxtapozing modern history icons such as Fred Astraire, Elvis and Marylin Monroe, Edgar Allan Poe.
''Marylin's Blue Door''
Very 1960s and truly very Pop.
The magical Blake 'deja vu' works carry the romantic, truly British aesthetic perception of the world we live and are deeply connected to our everyday life, regardless of the fact that the pop era is long gone.
Therefore Peter Blake: POP is a must- see.
POP I An Exhibition Of Prints By Peter Blake Opens 07 Sept - 27 October 2013.
Hang-Up Gallery
Private View : 06 Sept
6-9 pm Drinks Reception
RSVP: info@hanguppictures.com
All images, including the still shot of Sir Peter Blake working, from Ken Russel 1962' s BBC Documentary film ''Pop Goes the Easel '' are courtesy of CCA Galleries
Words from Millie Kotseva