Sir Peter Blake at The Walker Art Gallery
An Alphabet
Sir Peter Blake
1 October 2011 – 4 December 2011
If you haven’t already heard Sir Peter Blake has been named as the first patron of the John Moores Painting Prize, the UK’s biggest painting competition.
He will represent the competition which has a first prize of £25,000, and is held biennially at the Walker Art Gallery. He will take on this role 50 years after winning the Junior section of John Moores 3 with his painting Self Portrait with Badges in 1961.
In celebration The Walker Art Gallery is currently hosting An Alphabet, a display of one of Sir Peter Blake’s alphabet series.
The display is made up of 26 silkscreen prints and shows Peter Blake’s fascination with letters, fonts and typography.
Peter Blake incorporates imagery from popular culture into his work, including comic books, consumer goods and advertisements. In this display you can find anything from a poem about Leopards (in ‘L’), to images of Father Christmas (in ‘X’).
There is a childlike quality to ‘An Alphabet’ that has its roots in Peter’s own childhood, which was disrupted by the Second World War when he was evacuated.
This small display demonstrates why Peter Blake is considered the God Father of pop art and one of the most influential painters in the UK.