Blake at Stake

Bumping into Sir Peter Blake, RA, emerging from Waddingtons in Cork St (his dealer), one was conscious of a sense of deja-vu. With all this religious fervour about, one could have been on the way to visit the Blake 'Madonna and Child' nestling in the Royal Academy Summer Show. Religious fervour would drive one back to find 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' (the album cover) or what is left of it all. These reliquaries are not the only reason to go. Blake's special skill is perfecting the collagiste techniques of graphic design and transforming these into art. Here Blake has extended, over the past four decades, a tradition that is essentially Central European: the rotund, typically English gentleman with his cane has more to offer as this Continental alter ego.

(Peter Blake: Commercial Art: 1960-2003, London Institute Gallery, 65 Davies St to 11 September 2003.)