Month: April 2011

Girlie Door by Sir Peter Blake . Type: Silkscreen Print Published: 2008 Image Size: 455 mm X 660 mm Paper Size: 595 mm X 820 mm Edition Size: 175. 
[wp_cart:Girlie-Door:price:2000:end]

A  7 year old schoolgirl will see the front cover she designed for this week’s Radio Times sold in the shops.

Darcey Gurner, of Finchley, who attends Akiva School, in East End Road, beat 10,500 entries to win the magazine’s royal wedding picture competition with a drawing of the royal wedding carriage.
The judges praised Darcey’s design for its inventiveness with artist Sir Peter Blake describing it as “a thoroughly memorable image”. Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton called it “charming” and Education Secretary Michael Gove MP said it was “a spontaneous outburst of celebration and joy”.

Describing her winning cover design, Darcey said: “I can’t believe my picture will be in all the shops. It took a long time to draw because I had to practise doing the carriage in pencil and my mum showed me how to draw block figures.”
[wp_cart:Girlie-Door:price:2000:end]

Sir Peter Blake has published a new set of prints, Homage to Damien Hirst – Butterfly Man.
According to the Blake : ‘Damien Hirst has used butterflies in a lot in his work, and it was pointed out that ‘the butterfly man’ owes more than a little to his work, so I was happy to dedicate him in homage to Damien. I am an enormous admirer of Damien’s work.’
The new works use vintage postcard images as backdrops to his collage of the butterfly man, dozens of butterflies and an assortment of eclectic characters from the miscellaneous print paraphernalia that Blake has hoarded over the years.

The Butterfly Man, Hollywood captures the golden age of Hollywood glamour with  the Hollywood hills and  mini-mansions. In the foreground along with the butterfly man are numerous Hollywood legends including Charlie Chaplin, James Dean, Laurel & Hardy, Errol Flynn, Elvis, Marilyn and Judy Garland.

Blake returns to home ground for Butterfly Man, Eastbourne, celebrating the glory of the British seaside holiday. The butterfly man orchestrates his pets in front of the statue of Saigo Takamori (famous samurai) in The Butterfly Man, Tokyo, along with Japanese ladies in kimonos and visitors such as African tribesmen and a European lady in formal costume. The butterfly man also travels to North Africa, where he releases his butterflies in the souk at Tunis and finally, he goes to Venice and the piazza San Marco.

Each print is a silkscreen in 24 colours and 2 glazes on paper measuring 32.5 x 29.5 inches, from a signed edition of 100. 75 from the edition are being released as a boxed set priced at £7,500, and the remaining 25 prints are available individually at £1,800 each. The Hollywood and Venice images might sell out pretty quickly, so  interested buyers should  move fairly quickly.

Mary Ryan Gallery opens an exhibition of new work by English artist Peter Blake. Blake has often been called “the godfather of Pop Art” and his work is widely shown and collected throughout Europe. He has rarely shown in the United States; this is his third exhibition in New York since 1962. Blake will be present at the opening reception.

Though he is best known in the states for creating the album cover of The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ his paintings, drawings, prints and collages have focused on all aspects of popular culture from sports to music to film. Beyond being seen as iconic imagery, Blake’s work has always had a particular ability to translate the social preoccupations of the time. While immersed in pop culture, his art belongs to a long tradition of figurative realism and he has been influenced by Victorian imagery, myth, folk art, outsider art and vintage illustration.

Peter Blake: World Tour will feature 10 unique collages on paper and canvas depicting New York, Paris, Los Angeles, Venice and Tokyo. These unique mixed media pieces combine real imagery (vintage postcards and photographs) with Blake’s invented additions, transcending time and leading the viewer deep into the artist’s imagination. This body of work features “Butterfly Man,” a whimsical character loosely based on Damien Hirst (a friend and fan of Blake’s work) who travels the world orchestrating butterflies. This exhibition also marks the debut of Blake’s newest suite of silkscreens, Paris Portfolio, also based on vintage postcards, as well as two new editions, Union Jack and Old Glory.
more Peter Blake prints from Photogold