Sunday 22 August 2021

Peter Blake: Time Traveller

Peter Blake - London - The Butterfly Man (James Dean at the Albert Hall), 2011

 

Such a wonderful exhibition this. I have been a big fan of all of Peter Blake's works since seeing the Tate retrospective dedicated to him in 1983, (and the other at Tate Liverpool in 2007).  This exhibition though is a survey devoted to collage master Blake's developments in the medium. Blake's relentless explorations of the diverse variations of collage are fully charted here. Early painted compositions in a 'collage-like' style, such as Litter, (1955), and paintings with elements collaged on such as my long-time personal favourites - Siriol, She-Devil of Naked Madness, 1957, and Loelia, World's Most Tattooed Lady, 1955, which I haven't been able to see in the physical since 1983, are also included. It was a real thrill to get to see these pieces again after so long. This exhibition features pieces that have never been exhibited before too, from early career works to his self-proclaimed 'Late Period', and also Battle, (1964-2018) Blake's largest canvas to date. There is also acknowledgement of his most famous work with the inclusion of the collaged inset from The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967. The album cover famously blended assemblage, collage, and photography to create a memorable fine art/graphic design installation which nevertheless proved to be seen as something of a personal albatross for Blake. Collage for Blake opens up a world of surreal, ideosyncratic possibilities. This exhibition is titled - Peter Blake: Time Traveller, and you certainly get a sense of jumping back and forth through time as Blake's work evokes a certain nostalgia for bygone times because of the ephemeral nature of the materials he so deftly collages together be they Edwardian postcards, Victorian toys, midcentury advertising or 1960s pop memorabilia. All are seemlessly combined to create an alternate reality. The great thing about Blake's work is that he is so obviously and enthusiastically a fan of his pop culture subject matter - the pop and film stars (and their music and films), the wrestlers, toys, badges and comics etc. This love for his collage subject matter spills over into his personal life and studio environment as he has amassed a huge collection (an estimated 50,000 items) of diverse objects all assembled and displayed like a vast collaged art installation - The Sgt Pepper album cover made real. Blake got the collecting bug early in life, discovering a junkyard from which he would purchase an array of cheap materials which would go to make up his personal collection, or be included in his artworks. Another element which was interesting to discover in this show was the extent to which Blake is also a fan of other artists and their collaged works such as Joseph Cornell, Marcel Duchamp, and Damien Hirst, and it is wonderful to see him both generously acknowledging and paying homage to their art in his own works. Much of this exhibition comprises of Blake's Joseph Cornell's Holiday series, consisting of nearly one hundred collage works which sees Blake enjoying the artistic conceit of sending Cornell (who never actually travelled outside of America), on an alternate reality world tour in which Cornell encounters all manner of celebrities and fauna, in a series of surreal juxtapositions conjured up in Blake's whimsical imagination in exotic locations across the globe. Blake has now embraced technology, and the latest of his collaged oeuvre are created digitally. Peter Blake: Time Traveller, is a fantastic exhibition and deserves to be expanded and toured nationally (in much the same way Blake sends Cornell and Duchamp off on tour in his artworks).


Tokyo Giant & Mister Kyoto, 1975-1999
 
Roxy Roxy, 1965-1983
 
Late Period: Battle, 1964-2018
 
Boy with Paintings, 1957-1959
 
Installation view
 
Joe Louis, Brown Bomber, 1975-1999
 
Kid McCoy, 1961-1965
 
Siriol, She-Devil of Naked Madness, 1957
Loelia, World's Most Tattooed Lady, 1955

 
Girl in a Window, 1962

Litter, 1955

U.S.A. 1-4, 2013
 
In Homage to Kurt Schwitters 2, 2008
 
In Homage to Kurt Schwitters, 1987
 
Peter Blake and Jan Haworth - Insert for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967
 
Tie, 1953-1955
 
Bunty - Exciting Feather Dancer, 1954
 

On the Beach, 2009
 
Museum of Black & White 12 (in homage to Mark Dion), 2008-2010
 
Museum of the Colour White 2, 2002
 
Joseph Cornell's Holiday - United States of America, New York. 'Joseph says good-bye to Diane Arbus and some of her subjects in Times Square'. Bon Voyage, 2018

Joseph Cornell's Holiday - England, London. Kensington Gardens, with the Albert Memorial & Royal Albert Hall. 'The Butterfly Man', 2018
 
Joseph Cornell's Holiday -Czech Republic, Prague. 'Aviary', 2017
 
 Joseph Cornell's Holiday
series Installation View
 
Love Screen, 2010-2015

White M.M., c.1990
M, M, 1997
 
EL, 1961
 
M.M. Black, 1990
 
Elvis Shrine No. 1, 2001

From an Alphabet: J is for James Dean, 1990



Peter Blake: Time Traveller
until 9th September
Waddington Custot
11 Cork Street
London
W1S
 

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