PETER BLAKE; THE PETER PAN OF POP ART.
On the 5th of December 2013, courtesy of Art Republic, I got to spend a couple of hours chewing the fat with one of the greatest artists of the C21st.
Iâd met Peter before, both as visiting tutor to the Slade & a contributing artist working on the BT Art project. Iâd even had the privilege of spanking him with one of Bertâs bottom blushers at the Art Car Boot fair. But this time I hoped to get the opportunity to discuss his latest piece, a triptych, inspired by my favourite book the âInternational Circusâ by Lothar Meggendorfer.
During the Q&A session that ensued Peter spoke openly about his inspirations, motivations & future aspirations, which incidentally would be enough to keep most of us mere mortals busy for the next decade or two!
He talked about his childhood & expressed his extreme gratitude to his parents for allowing him to pursue his art career. They realized from a very early age just how much Art meant to him. âNever forget the sacrifices others have made to help you get where you areâ he quipped. Indeed, sound advice for us all.
Peter is a self-taught artist, which only increases my admiration for his achievements. He describes himself as a ârogue artist & a rogue graphic designer.â He studied at technical school before progressing on to a foundation course. âOne teacher, Peter Todd, stood out; he believed in me & encouraged me to apply to the Royal College of Artâ. Had he not been an artist heâd probably have been an electrician or a professional wrestler.
When asked if he saw himself as a painter or a printmaker, interestingly he explains that he sees himself as a great oak tree. âIts sturdy trunk is the traditional oil painter, whilst every other branch that shoots from its bough is another media for him to experiment with.â He hinted at the inherent snobbism & elitism that still exists when it comes to fine art painting. He asked me âwhy is it when you paint something on to a canvas, people always say you should have just stuck that on? Yet when you do collage on canvas, then they ask why didnât you paint it?â We concluded that there was just no pleasing some people, so an artist must just try to please himself instead. Again, more great advice...
Whilst Peter enjoys working in a wide variety of different media, he also acknowledged that some are vastly more profitable than others, such as printmaking. When asked for the best advice heâd ever received he simply said, âNever rely on just one talent & always diversify. Early on I made a decision to have a portfolio career â that is, to spend my time teaching, doing graphic design & painting. That way I could spread the risk.â
As for the secret to his success, well this he attributes to something very close to my own heart & what Leonardo Da Vinci called curiosita, meaning an insatiable inquisitiveness about life & an unrelenting passion for learning. âYou need to be possessed, I find the older I get the faster the ideas come & whilst Iâm working on one idea Iâm already planning the next.â
He cites his greatest achievement to date to be a painting entitled âSelf portrait with badgesâ, which took him three months to complete & won the prestigious John Moores Junior Award, in 1961.
Peter came to wider public attention when, along with Pauline Boty, Derek Boshier & Peter Phillips, he featured in Ken Russell's film âPop Goes the Easel.â The BBC broadcast it in 1962.
Iâve seen this film several times & couldnât wait to ask about its fairground references. He buzzed with excitement as he explained that heâd been given a free annual pass to the Fun Fair whilst studying at the RCA. It was on one of his regular visits that he was invited backstage & thatâs when he began capturing life behind the scenes & sketching Circus clownsâ portraits.
Peter, like me, was fascinated by the Circus from an early age; âitâs the glamour, the bright lights & the unmistakable sounds.â Fairground & Circus motifs litter his works, from his early figurative pieces to his most recent three-dimensional Circus Collage. He attributes his fascination with the fairground to be a class thing, believing he inherited his fascination with popular entertainment from his working class parents. Alongside Circus memorabilia he collects Victorian taxidermy, folk art & vintage toys. We witnessed just the tip of the iceberg of his collection in his exhibition No.3 at the Museum of Everything in 2009. One of his most prized possessions is a pair of clown shoes that once belonged to Max Miller.
Often described as the God Father of Pop, I wondered which artists inspired him to which he replied âRauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Stanley Spencer, Paul Klee, Joseph Cornell & Kurt Schwitters. Definitely not Andy Warhol & I never liked Lichtenstein.â
We also talked about his most recent projects that had taken him over 25 years to complete. A series of illustrations based on Dylan Thomasâ radio drama âUnder Milk Woodâ. The exhibition features hundreds of pencil & watercolour portraits, on tinted paper, which illustrate the dream sequences from the play. It also includes lots of collages & photographs taken by Peter in Laugharne, during the 1970s. He confessed that whilst he listens to the play almost everyday, he still couldnât remember the opening line. Whilst Peter made several pilgrimages throughout his life to follow in Thomasâ footsteps, sadly he never had the pleasure of meeting him.
One of my favourite anecdotes I heard that day was how he been thrown out of a bar in Camden, late one night following his Karaoke duet with Amy Winehouse. To me this story is the perfect illustration of Peterâs insatiable appetite for life, his willingness to try anything & his incredible sense of humour. Also known as curiosita, I guess.