artrepublic

The city of London is the latest stop in Sir Peter Blake’s incredible ‘World Tour’ series. The London Suite is the newest creation in a continuing city-collage series which the godfather of British Pop has been developing for the last few years.  The suite pairs postcard views of city sights with a crowded assortment of Blake’s motley visitors. The result is an extraordinary collection of imaginative snapshots of a city that has been visited by the world this summer. 

The prints, inspired by vibrant and historic London, are silkscreen, signed limited editions of Blake’s beautifully crafted collages. The collages themselves are composed from postcards, found photographs, engravings, second-hand book illustrations and vintage children’s literature cut outs. They are a development of an aesthetic made famous in 1967 with Blake’s cover design for the Sgt. Pepper’s album, and affirm his mastery of the collage technique.

The London Suite culminates in a magical history tour of the British capital, with characters and figures spanning centuries filling the familiar landscapes. Unsurprisingly, Blake has ingeniously woven tongue-in-cheek juxtapositions to build beautiful, apt and comic portraits of the city; Westminister Abbey is overrun with animals, Piccadilly Circus is swarming with comic book superheroes, and the Thames is crowded with an eccentric collection of vessels reminiscent of the river’s Jubilee display.

Although the collages use familiar source material, the butterflies, dancers, and cultural icons have taken on a new guise and the works appear incredibly current and contemporary. One print, Petticoat Lane, is teeming with images of women from all different nationalities, cultures, and ages, and not only functions as a fascinating rendition of London’s rich history, but also as a witty snapshot of the city’s present day, tourist saturated state.

Blake has turned his extraordinary vision and collector’s eye on to the British capital city and the result is an entirely appropriate, beautifully detailed, nostalgic fusion, brimming with celebratory theatricality.

It seems as though tapestry is shaking off its dusty image and coming to the forefront as a contemporary art medium. Now Sir Peter Blake and Peter Saville have joined the revival with fantastic loom creations for a major tapestry exhibition ‘Weaving the Century: Tapestry from Dovecot Studios 1912-2012’.

Grayson Perry has recently found something of an affinity with the heavy cloth. He created six tapestries as a riff on William Hogarth’s ‘A Rake’s Progress’ which were charted in a three-part Channel 4 series, ‘In the Best Possible Taste’. He used tapestry to literally weave an exploration of class mobility in contemporary British society. There has also been a recent show of pop art tapestries by Ted Willcox at the Museum of Everything. 

The latest textile event to hit the art world is taking place in Edinburgh. Dovecot studios is one of the world’s leading tapestry studios and is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. To mark the occasion they have opened an exhibition, ‘Weaving the Century’, incorporating over sixty iconic tapestries, rugs, and works from Britain and American. 

Among the artist-collaborators are no less than Sir Peter Blake, David Hockney, Elizabeth Blackadder and Eduardo Paolozzi. Rarely seen works by Paul Gauguin, Cecil Beaton, Louise Nevelson, Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland will also be on display. 

Dovecot was first founded by the Marquess of Bute and the studio evolved from William Morris’ prestigious Merton Abbey Craft Studio. It has continued to forge artistic links. Head weaver Jonathan Cleaver believes artists are drawn to Dovecot’s highly specialised rendering skills. “We don’t use digital technology to match colours”, he says, “We do it all by eye.”  The exhibition, curated by art historian Dr Elizabeth Cumming, will be the first time such a vast collection of works produced by Dovecot has been shown together.

New exciting commissions were made for the 2012 Centenary by Peter Saville and Peter Blake. Dovecot has collaborated with Sir Peter Blake to create a collection of signed limited edition tapestries inspired by his iconic designs and with Peter Saville on a tapestry of his re-appropriation of Peter Blake’s appropriation of Sir Edwin Landeer’s 181 painting ‘Monarch of the Glen’. 

It is fantastic to see Sir Peter Blake’s work translated into tapestry, his legendary pop art style lending itself readily to the weaver’s skills. The textural dimension created through the painstaking weaving reveals the rich artistic potential of modern tapestry. Equally, Peter Saville’s ‘After After Monarch of the Glen’ has had new life breathed into it by the very act of weaving.

This week we will be remembering the King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley, as the 35th anniversary of his death approaches. The iconic figure not only changed the face of music but was the inspiration behind many artistic creations. Since his death in 1977, artists are continuing to create Elvis inspired art.

Artists such as Peter Blake, Andy Warhol, Simon Dixon and Trafford Parsons, pay homage to the King of rock n roll through their individual creations of Elvis themed works. Each with such distinctive styles and execution, Elvis Presley continues to motivate art for so many.

Peter Blake is well known for his admiration of icons and musical heroes, creating some of the most recognised images in popular culture. His limited edition Elvis inspired pieces are highly regarded and ever so popular.