BHF and CCA Galleries collaborating at Art London

With the recent news that the British Heart Foundation will be taking a stand alongside CCA at Art London in October this year. I thought it would be pertinent to write some pieces about the stories behind the beautiful images in the Breath of Life portfolio that they will be displaying.

Just to inform any new visitors, CCA are helping the BHF to raise funds for their Mending Broken Hearts Apeal through an ongoing art project. In April we unveiled the Breath of Life portfolio of 15 original limited edition silkscreen prints by a unqiue group of leading British artists based on the theme of mending broken hearts. All profits from the sale of these pieces will go to the BHF. Each artwork in the portfolio (the artworks can be purchased individually or as a set) has a special story behind it.

I thought I would start with Duggie Fields' Madonna and Heart, one of the boldest and most daring images in the portfolio. I have to say that Duggie has been the most wonderful artist to work with; he agreed to be involved with the project with alacrity and has always gone out of his way to be supportive of the BHF's brilliant work, as well as being constantly charming and fun. I did not realise until well into the project that Duggie had very personal reasons for wanting to help, reasons which he is happy to share in order to raise awareness,

' I was very happy to be given the opportunity to contribute to the Mending Broken Hearts Art Appeal. My Father died of heart disease in the late 1960s so I am very aware of the devastating effect of it on peoples' lives. To make a contribution towards lessening it's impact on others was irrestistable, and it was also a great group of artists to be included with.'

It is always nerve-wracking going to meet an artist for the first time, especially when they are as cool as Duggie and double-especially when you are going to ask them to do a project for charity (most major artists receive dozens of these sorts of requests every week!). I manages to find Duggie's flat in a llovely red brick mansion block in Earl's Square. He has lived here since the mid 1960s when he was flatmates with Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd (did I mention he is pretty cool?). Stepping into the flat is like stepping into another world: Duggie World, and it is infintely more colourful, eccentric and surprising than the grey London streets outside. The flat is Duggie's studio as well as his home, and every room has been lovingly transfomed over the years to reflect his artistic vision; walls are painted and hung with his pieces, bright and beautiful mannequins are dotted about the place,  even some of the furniture has been created by Duggie. As we sit and have a cup of tea he tells me how even now- 40 years on- Pink Floyd fans still randomly turn up at his door hoping to see the place where Syd lived and strummed. What was Syd's room is now Duggie's main studio space. Although he does a lot of digital artwork on his computer in the sitting room, he still retains a large place in his heart- and a large amount of time- for his works on canvas. Duggie likes to work on a large scale and his paintings can take up to 6 months to complete.

Madonna and Heart is in Duggie's flamboyant signature hard-edged post-pop art style, which he describes as 'MAXIMAList'. I think the piece is particularly powerful because of the contrast between the contemporary and severe linear style with the traditional and sentimental subject matter. As is often the case with Duggie's work the choice of imagery could be considered controversial (his images of both Princess Diana and Michael Jackson have caused a stir in the past); removing the infant Jesus from this Catholic iconography and replacing him with an anatomical heart (perhaps suggesting that the body should be treated as a temple, or that health has replaced god in popular culture?). The bright palatte and dramatic lines of the piece give it a lot of impact on the wall, and it's certainly one of my top picks from the portfolio. Duggie also created a one-off digital print on canvas of Madonna and Heart which stands nearly 2 meters tall, and will be on display at a central London location in 2011- watch this space for more news.

CCA Art Bus is transformed into the Mick Jones Rock and Roll Public Library at Vintage Goodwood

CCA Galleries are delighted to be taking part in the inaugural Vintage Goodwood. A festival celebrating 5 decades of Britiish music, design, film, fashion and art. To find out more or purchase tickets for the event please visit www.vintageatgoodwood.com

Not only are we exhibiting artwork by Sir Peter Blake in the Art Cafe and the VIP Lounge on the high street (Sir Peter will be attending the festival), the CCA Art Bus is being transformed into Mick Jones's 'The Rock and Roll Public Library' for the weekend.The below text courtesy of Chris Salewicz.

The Library is drawn from Mick Jones's (ex-The Clash) legendarily vast archive. In this vision of lfe the, the creator of the iconic sleeve of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper meets the creator of The Clash, on a bus, the event transmorgifying into Mick Jones's magical mystery tour: We're all going on a summer holiday! Yet the deeper more pertinent truth of The Rock and Roll Public Library is that it is concerned with the invisible force that manifests visible effects in life, and the inner truth of an individual which also has an invisible influence, good or bad. In this case, the manifestation is entirely positive: and the weather's good...

This boutique version of the Library on display at Vintage Goodwood pays tribute to the legendary Faces, performing in their reformed line-up at the event. The Faces were an immense influence on Mick Jones, who saw them on mumerous occasions: a series of classic images of the group is a feature of the vintage Goodwood version of the Library. Otherwise, comics are a central theme of The Rock and Roll Public Library at Vintage Goodwood: among others, an entire section is devoted to a display of Commando Comics, whilst Valiant Comics of the early 1970s are also featured, a selection of the paperback books will also be exhibited. Meanwhile, such staples as the poster for the final Hank Williams concert remain; and there is a continued strong Zulu presence.

This 3 day exhibition serves as a trailer for Clash founder Mick Jones's long-cherished Rock and Roll Public Library which now has had four extended exhibitions, twice at the Chelsea Space Gallery, at the Norwich Gallery and, most memorably, under the westway on London's Portobello Road. The Rock and Roll Public Library, a testament to popular culture, springs directly from the enormous personal archive of Mick Jones, a collection that began well before he formed The Clash in 1976, to eventual colossal international success. As such, it forms an invaluable guide to the edifying influences that informed The Clash and Jones.

Located in a lock-up in North Acton, where it has resided for the past eighteen years, this collection represents a collision of cultural influences, of which Jones's formal art school training is but one. The Acton property is a veritable Aladdin's Cave of oour age. But it also stands as testament to the manner in which pop music came to its first full fruition at the same time as Pop Art. And as to how Mick Jones, who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of popular culture, is a pop artist, in both senses of the word, living-as the rest of The Clash did- 'in the gap between art and life', to employ Robert Rauschenberg's celebrated phrase.

Envisaged as a permanent reference library for use by both the local and international community, it comprises, believes Jones, 'a personal cultural and social history of our times, and through that it extends beyonf the local to the global.' Popular culture is now established as part of the curriculum of many universities: it is intended that the Library will be an invaluable and essential aid to academic research and personal inquisitiveness.

Among many other strands, Mick Jones's collection  contains almost 10,000 books, on a multiplicity of culturally-related subjects- music, film, art, drugs, crime, sport, and war. It also includes most significant editions of music and film-related publications of the last forty years. These range from 1960s teen magazines like Fab 208 to obscure punk era fanzines, taking in all the noteworthy music publications of our time.

Much of the early parts of the collection was created from material sent to him by his Mother, who lives in Michigan in the USA, 'She'd send me all the early copies of Creem Magazine, which was published in Detroit, ' he recalls 'And she'd send me Rock Scene, that New York magazine edited by Lisa Robinson, in which the photographer Bob Gruen's pictures first appeared en masse.'

In the Acton lock-up there is a similarly enormous array of films, around 5000 of them, mostly on VHS video. Related artefacts embrace a complete collection of Clash stage-wear and posters. Comparable material from other significant musical acts is also included.

Constrictions of space at Vintage Goodwood inevitably have led to a condensed version of The Rock and Roll Public Library, yet one that captures the very essence of the experience.

Landscape Art

CCA Galleries has a massive selection of landscape art, which can be rather overwhelming when you are searching for that one perfect picture. In order to help out a little more, I have broken the collection down into basic categories and recoommended a few artists from each to have a look at. Landscape art is a great tradition in Britain from the genius of Turner and Constable to the abstract musings of the St. Ives School and every style and interpretation in between...

Traditional

Comtemporary art does not have to mean cutting edge and impossible to understand. We have many artists who still work in the tradition started by Poussin and Claude, if you like academic landscapes you might like work by the below artists:

Graham Evernden, Stephen Whittle, Richard Wardle, Paul Bisson, Barbara Munns, John McNulty, Oliviero Masi, Jeremy King, Kathleen Caddick, Kenneth Leech, Alison Kennedy, Norman Stevens, Mark Spain, Ilana Richardson, Gerald Hughes, George Guest, Gilbert Browne, Don Bessant, Michael Carlo.

Impressionistic

If you prefer the soft-edges and focus on light and colour imbued in the works of artists such as Monet and Dufy, try the artists below:

Michael Schreiber, Bob Sanders, Peter Eastham, Richard Tuff, Donald Wilkinson, Ian Ribbons, Joy Brand, Claude Fauchere, Francis Mean, Ley Kenyon, Marie Para, Michael Oelman, Gilbert Martin, Malkolm Woodward, Andre Bicat, Thomas Kruger, France Hilon, Glyn Thomas, Victor Spahn, Amanda Hoskin.

Stylised

If you like your landscapes quirky, imaginative and unusual, the artists who work in a very stylised manner may be for you. Each of the below artists is immediateloy recognisable by their unique style:

Patrick Procktor, Stavros Kotsireas, James Willebrant, Lis Wright, Barbara Newcomb, Andrew Murrey, Lorna Massie, Vincent Haddesley, Phil Greenwood, Renee Halpern, Francois Ledan, Simon Palmer, Alison Goodwin, Melanie Epps.

Abstract

For those Modernists amongst you we have a fine selection of abstract landscapes, from the purity of Terry Frost to the merging colour of Barbara Rae. Take a look at:

Bruce McLean, Donald Hamilton Fraser, Adina Tanai, Ann-Marie LeQuesne, Jan King, Mike Sibthorp, Arthur Secunda, Tully Crook, Tuvia Beeri, Philip Lyons, Emma Dunbar.

The Venice Suite

The Venice Suite has been one of Peter Blake's most popular editions of recent times. Most of these jewel-like small prints are now no longer available individually. However, you can purchase all 20 stunning signed limited edition prints as a boxed portfolio set. Buying the Venice Suite also represents a considerable saving in comparison with buying the pieces individually.

Order your Venice Suite online soon in order to avoid disappointment!

‘Venice has been an inspiring place for me since my first visit in 1957 on a scholarship. I spend my life collecting images, newspaper cuttings and vintage postcards, which find their way into my work, and Venice has proven to be a treasure-trove of material. I returned to the city in 2007 and found some beautiful embroideries and illustrations which will become part of future works’ Sir Peter Blake

The future works to which Blake refers have arrived. CCA Galleries are delighted to offer for sale this beautiful portfolio that comprises of 20 screen prints, signed and numbered by the artist. The screen prints are available individually or as a portfolio presented in a museum quality binding box. Edition size of 75, +8 Artist Proof portfolios, +3 H/C portfolios. Screen-printed on 400 Gsm Somerset tub sized paper.

The Venice Suite was inspired by Blake’s trip to Venice for the Biennale of 2007. Each piece in the portfolio is a geml of his trademark collage style. Blake combines traditional images of the city on the lagoon with visual excerpts from vintage childrens’ books, photographs, postcards, as well as details from works of the old masters. This visual witticism is teamed with a palette of turquoise, gold and the grey of the stones of Venice to create a surreal fairytale vision of the city. Blake juxtaposes the baroque grandeur of the architectural icons of Venice with giant penguins, wartime bombers, Edwardian rowers and icebergs to name a few. The end result is a portfolio of works that are playful, imaginative, beautiful, immensely varied and representative of Sir Peter Blake’s unique vision.

Mick Jones of The Clash hops aboard the Art Bus

Last week saw the CCA Art Bus roll into Battesea Park for a spcial meeting between Peter Blake and punk legend Mick Jones...

Former Clash star Mick Jones hopped on to a different type of tour bus – as he loaded his rock and roll archive on to a double-decker.

The guitarist, who has a huge collection of memorabilia dating back to his punk days, is taking his stash out on the road in a bus designed by another music legend, artist Sir Peter Blake.

Jones – who recently played Glastonbury thanks to his new role in Gorillaz – is transporting the haul in the CCA Art Bus to this summer's Vintage At Goodwood festival, which will also host an exhibition of Sir Peter's prints – a new event devised by design guru Wayne Hemingway to showcase the best of British music and design over the decades.

The music star's mementoes include artwork, posters and even pizza boxes from notable tours during his days with The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite and more.

He has previously shown his works in London when he opened a temporary museum, but this is the first time his "Rock & Roll Public Library" has been further afield.

Of course Sir Peter has been involved with music and musicians throughout his career, aprart from his famous Sgt. Pepper album cover for the Beatles, he has also designed for Osais, Live Aid, Ian Dury andf the Blockheads and Paul Weller.

Jones said: "Peter Blake was The One when we were at art school – he's the father of British Pop Art. It's an honour to have my Library on his bus. I'm looking forward to a mobile celebration of our collective cultural memory. That's history."

Sir Peter said: "Since launching the Art Bus in May 2009, I've found it provides the perfect location for any artist to display his or her work in a quirky and intimate setting."

The event takes place from August 13 to 15.

Sandra Blow Scion of the St Ives Set and First Woman to Blaze the Trail of Abstract Art

When looking at an artwork by Sandra Blow the viewer will experience an emotional reaction.  Her work can be meditative, sensual, uplifting. For many of us it will feel strange to have such a reaction to a picture that contains no figurative subject matter. We doubt our own reactions; assuming that abstract art must be difficult to relate to, or that it is simplistic twaddle with no meaning.

In fact Blow’s work is full of meaning. She is an artists’ artist, an academic artist, but this does not mean that her work is pretentious or too intellectual for us mere mortals to understand. It is actually because the work is wholly abstract that it becomes universal: every individual reacts to it in their own way, can take a feeling or a meaning from it that applies to them, can see whatever they like in it; it is at once highly personal and universally applicable. Abstract art can communicate before it is understood.

She is viewed as an academic painter because she focused herself primarily within the self-contained problems of ‘pure’ painting: balance and proportion, tensions, scale. Her work demands to be viewed in terms of its formal qualities rather than in terms of biographical revelation or social comment.Abstraction meant for Blow a source of vitality, risk and surprise that is a close as you can get to the artist’s own sense of being alive,

‘For me, as well as the natural interactions of colour and line, there is a biological factor in a painting in which all the parts contribute to the functional whole, as our bodies do. When it ‘lives’ in that way it is finished. In addition, there is a God-sent gift, a balance of magic.’

Her silkscreen prints often include collaged elements, which are a reference to her use of discarded materials in her original paintings. Blow would use cheap everyday materials such as sawdust, sack-cloth, ripped canvas, sand, ash and plaster to add textures and dynamism to her work. She was influenced in this technique by Alberto Burri (whom she met in 1947 and with whom she travelled around Italy) who may have started using such materials when he was in P.O.W camp and therefore unable to have access to ‘normal’ art materials. The use of such materials lends Blow’s work an expressive informality, and shows her belief in the importance of a tactile as well as a visual emphasis to the picture surface. She was 22 when she met Burri, ten years her senior, as they travelled and painted he introduced her to the subject of abstraction, debating with her the relationship of forms and spaces in Renaissance paintings, which clearly had resonances in the world of abstract art.

Her style moved from sombre earthy tonal works in the 50s/60s to the more spontaneous minimal geometric and colourful works of the 80s onwards. She held together the visual energy of her compositions with points and accents of sharper colour, ‘Like achieving a perfect note in music, you hammer away at it, and when you finally get it, it seems so simple’. The Matisse-inspired decorative manner of her middle and late periods was a seamless collaboration between the constructed and the freely painted. What one must keep in mind when looking at her work is that they are not, as they might appear, the inspiration of a moment, but the result of painstaking experimentation. Blow temporarily stapled pieces of coloured paper or other material to canvas, woodboard or paper, and altered positions, shapes and colours until the final overall composition of a picture suggested itself

Blow never wanted to work to a specific theme or become engaged in a series of works that were related to each other; she approached every canvas as a totally new challenge, a new idea, a new experience. She maintained that events in her personal life often affected the appearance of her painting, not, of course, in an illustrational way, but in the tensions and clashes of the jostling marks on the canvas. But she believed also that abstract art did not simply reach its own natural audience, but gained some of its validity by feeding back into the broader visual life of the nation as fashion and architecture and design.

Breath of Life

However, this is no ordinary portfolio; it is part of the Mending Broken Hearts Art Appeal: an ongoing effort to raise awareness and funds for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) through the use of contemporary art. These images will become icons used by the BHF to promote their activities across the country, harnessing the unique power of art to grab our attention and to move us.

The group of artists taking part in this project is a cross-section of all that’s best about British contemporary art: Sir Peter Blake, Maurice Cockrill RA, Brad Faine, Duggie Fields, the late Donald Hamilton Fraser RA, Gerard Hemsworth, Maggi Hambling CBE, John Hoyland RA, Patrick Hughes, Bruce McLean, Antony Micallef, Brendan Neiland, Tom Phillips CBE RA, Barbara Rae CBE RA, and Storm Thorgerson. Breath of Life is unique in bringing together this particular set of artists for the first time. That they have all taken inspiration from the same theme gives a very rare opportunity to compare their concepts, making the portfolio very collectable.

Each of the artists was asked to create an original artwork based on the theme ‘mending broken hearts’: a universal theme with endless possibilities that sums up the work of the BHF. As you can see by glancing at the following few pages, each artist’s interpretation is completely unique and the images as a group are as diverse as they are beautiful. This diversity is essential to what the BHF is trying to achieve: to put contemporary art into the mainstream public view and to use its power to make people think. Everybody will see different things in a work of art and have a different emotional response to it; this is the beauty of the Mending Broken Hearts Art Appeal. Of these 15 images there will be one or two for everyone that particularly appeal to us or relate to an experience we have been through. In the end, Breath of Life is about the redemptive power of love, about triumph over adversity, about hope and science combining to conquer heart disease. This positive message encapsulates what the BHF are trying to achieve; to find a way to repair damaged hearts and save millions of lives.

All publishers’ profits from sales of the Breath of Life portfolio will be donated to the BHF. This money will be used to help fund a programme of medical research into regenerative medicine. The BHF’s long term goal is to enable the heart to repair itself once it has been damaged; having a heart attack would therefore become no more serious than breaking an arm. The development of regenerative techniques will help to save millions of lives. Nadja Hale of the BHF explains the importance of the Mending Broken Hearts Art Appeal,

‘The proceeds of the Art Project will go to the Mending Broken Hearts Appeal. This is the British Heart Foundation’s biggest fundraising appeal ever, which is being launched to celebrate the charity’s 50th anniversary in 2011. The BHF has decided to mark 50 years of saving lives through cutting edge research by raising £50million to fund a specific programme of regenerative medicine that will include stem cell research. Unfortunately, the heart is unable to repair itself so for example, when a heart attack occurs and a portion of the heart dies, this damage is currently irreversible and leads to debilitating symptoms and premature death. This appeal could change all that.

The BHF has been overwhelmed by the response of the artists who have contributed to this project, lending their limited time and considerable talents to produce incredible works of art for the Appeal. Beyond simple fundraising, this project has presented the work of the BHF to an entirely new audience through the medium of art.  It has been inspirational to see how the artists have translated the ‘Mending Broken Hearts’ concept in such diverse and beautiful ways.’

For the artists that have contributed to Breath of Life helping the BHF to achieve this amazing goal was at the heart of their work. As Brendan Neiland says, ‘Using contemporary art to raise awareness of the BHF is a brilliant idea. It is an absolute step forward. What we have in Britain is the foremost artistic talent in the world, for the BHF to use this creative talent as well as standard advertising methods allows a completely different approach. Artists use their creative freedom to respond to their own idea of ‘mending broken hearts’ and therefore bring endless possibilities to the table. I have been incredibly impressed by the breadth of vision and interpretation.’

For many of the artists involved with the project, the work of the BHF has personal significance. I asked Duggie Fields why he had taken part,  ‘ I was very happy to be given the opportunity. My Father died of heart disease in the late 1960s, so I am very aware of the devastating effect of it on peoples’ lives. To make a contribution towards lessening its impact on others was irresistible, and it was also a great group of artists to be included with.’ Duggie’s statement of the private impact of heart disease on his own life reinforces the fact that all of us have been affected by it in some way, whether directly or indirectly. That is why helping the BHF is so important.

Breath of Life ranges from the child-like innocence and joy of Patrick Hughes’ Cloudy, to the dark melancholic emotional power of Antony Micallef’s I Brake Everything, to the witty word play of Tom Phillips’ Take Art for the Heart and the abstract exuberance of John Hoyland’s Soulless Stars Cascade. Each image has a story behind it and each has personal resonance for the artist. One of the loveliest stories is that behind Donald Hamilton Fraser’s Valentine. Fraser sadly passed away in September last year, but had been keen to take part in the Mending Broken Hearts Art Appeal. Honouring his wishes, his widow Judith gave CCA Galleries access to a Valentines card that Fraser had made for her, feeling that the image would be particularly appropriate. Every year Fraser made his wife a Valentines card, which Judy would then keep in a collection that spanned their sixty-year marriage. Valentine is one of those precious testaments of his love that perfectly captures the power of art to mend the heart.

One of the youngest artists to contribute to Breath of Life is Antony Micallef whose image I Brake Everything has caused a huge buzz from excited collectors. Micallef, whose work has been exhibited all over the world, including the Royal Academy and National Portrait Gallery combines exquisite draughtsmanship with raw emotion in this study of the power of love. Mending Broken Hearts by Sir Peter Blake will be the lead image in the BHF’s appeal, and over the coming year will become instantly recognisable nationwide. Blake (a patron of the Mending Broken Hearts Appeal) has created classic pop art composition that is reminiscent of his iconic works I Love You and Q is for Quarters. His bold colours and geometric forms create a sophisticated balance of form.

Storm Thorgerson has adapted his iconic album cover artwork for Dark Side of the Moon to create Teardrop, a softer and more emotional rendering of this classic image. The theme of healing is brilliantly taken up by Bruce McLean in Healing Garden, a vibrant collaged piece with the bold compositional elements that we have come to expect from McLean. Both Gerard Hemsworth and Duggie Fields use cartoon-like linear images that subvert viewers’ expectations in Brief Encounter and Madonna and Heart. Alternatively, works such as Clare’s Inspiration by Maurice Cockrill and Sunrise Heart by Maggi Hambling are much more transparent in the joy and optimism they convey, both artists choose to base their composition around a heart-shape, suffusing the paper with colour and movement.

Brendan Neiland and Barbara Rae have taken inspiration from the urban environment; in Calypso Neiland uses the neon lights of Las Vegas to create a ‘sign’ reminding us to take care of our hearts. Barbara Rae has based Repare! Por Favor on the graffiti and street posters of Madrid, using text to reinforce her message. Finally Brad Faine uses visual and textual wit to encapsulate mending broken hearts. He juxtaposes the popular sweets Love Heart-s with their phrases such as ‘kiss me’ etc, with a grid of text made up of scientific words relating to heart health.

The Mending Broken Hearts Art Appeal encompasses much more than just the Breath of Life portfolio. In order to disseminate the artworks as far and wide as possible and raise the maximum amount of money for the BHF, CCA Galleries has planned a three-tier approach to the appeal. A group of original paintings and works on paper was auctioned earlier in the year, with a second auction planned for a further group of original paintings to be held at a later date. As well as Breath of Life there will be a second portfolio of original limited edition silkscreen prints: Joy of Life that will be launched in February 2011. Artists that will contribute to Joy of Life include Gary Hume, Adrian Berg, Gavin Turk, Simon Periton, Michael Craig-Martin, Rob Ryan and Jonathan Yeo- with more names to be revealed over the coming months. Finally, the BHF will use the images in a range of merchandising to be sold in their shops across the country next year.

Breath of Life can be seen in exhibition from June at Innocent Fine Art, Bristol, Railings Gallery, Marylebone and Brook Gallery, Buddleigh Salterton, and at various galleries across the UK in coming months, please ring CCA Galleries for further details.

Breath of Life purchased from www.ccagalleries.com. Artworks can be purchased individually or as a museum quality boxed-set. For further information please contact CCA Galleries on 01252 797201.

CCA Galleries Online Buy limited edition prints from 40 pounds

As well as selling artwork by Britain's most famous artists, CCA also has an archive of prints by lesser-known artists that are available to buy online for as little as £40....

CCA has published hundreds of artists over the years and it can be confusing to try and find artwork that is in the right price-bracket for you. Some of our most popular and successful artists have work available for sale at ccagalleries.com at prices that range from £40-£400:

Richard Tuff, Heidi Konig, Chloe Cheese, Charlotte Cornish, Sonia Rollo, Richard Spare, Anna Marrow, Phil Greenwood, Jurgen Gorg, Kathleen Caddick, Brad Faine, Ilana Richardson, Terence Millington, Annora Spence...and many more

Works by these artists are all limited edition authentic original prints, signed by the artist,  that don't have to cost the earth. Start your art collection for less than you were expecting!

The Story Behind Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

People may not have heard of Peter Blake, but everyone recognises the album cover artwork he created for The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. However most people do not know the story behind the image, that in fact Sgt. Pepper's was not a collage but a full-scale 3-d set that Blake created and then had photographed.

Unlike most fine artists, Blake has always accepted commercial assignments and believes in the importance of graphic design in his work. Blake believes that these projects pushed him to expand his subject matter and develop new techniques. Of course commercial work also fitted into the essential ethos of Pop Art: that mass culture and commercial imagery could become part of fine art.

Blake and his then wife (Jann Haworth) collaborated on Sgt. Pepper's. The commission came to Blake via his then art dealer, Robert Fraser, who was well known in the London music scene. He was paid  a flat fee of £200, which is obviously a minute amount considering the success of the album, but at least it brought his work to the attention of millions. The concept for the image came from Paul McCartney's request that the group be presented as if accepting some sort of civic award, and Blake decided to make the crowd surrounding the four members of the band full of famous folk. The juxtaposition of unexpected people from diiferent eras and locations is an idea which has always pleased Blake and crops up in much of his work, and here we see it in full flow. Blake actually asked each of the Beatles to make a list of the people (living or dead) that they would like to surround them on the cover.

The Beatles were placed centrally, posing in colourful marching band outfits, with instruments in hand. Beside them stand life-sized wax work figures of their younger selves in their 'mop top' incarnation. Blake and Haworth had life-sized photographic cut outs made of the personalities that would make up the crowd (seeking permission from the ones that were still living- apparently Mae West put up a bit of a fuss about being in a lonely hearts club). These include Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde, Marilyn Monroe, Bob Dylan, Marlon Brando, W.C. Fields etc. (Can anyone out there in the blogospere name them all?). These cardboard cut outs were then arranged in a photographic studio. Haworth created the sculpture of the little girl with the Rolling Stones jumper that sits on the right-hand side, and all the foliage in the foreground is absolutely real and painstakingly arranged by Blake.

The final image is from a photograph of this surreal scene taken by Michael Cooper. To get further fascinating insight into the making of Sgt. Pepper please visit the CCA YouTube channel where you can see a video of the work in progress.

CCA Art Bus and the Linton Childrens Book Festival

At CCA Galleries we believe that art is about more than business; it it something that inspires and moves, and should be shared with as many people as possible. That's why, as well as taking the Art Bus to support exhibitions at our approved stockists, we try to visit as many schools and get involved with as many community projects as possible.

Last weekend we visited the Darryl Nantais Gallery in the idyllic village of Linton near Cambridge. We certainly packed a lot into our visit; starting by spending a day at Linton Village College and the Granta School, where they has been studying Sir Peter Blake in their art lessons. The looks on kids' faces in priceless when they see the Art Bus roll into their playground, and their enthusiasm to get on board and find out what it's all about is universal. The next day we went over to Linton Heights Primary School, where all the pupils were dressed up as characters from their favourite books (as part of the Childrens' Book Festival). The Art Bus and the work of Blake were inspiration for two competitions arranged as part of the festival: poetry and art. The poems were inspired by one of Blake's recent artworks Birds from the Paris Quartet. One of my favourites is below:

Sir Peter Blake's Birds

Interesting painting

Really super sight, loads to see.

Perched up high owls sit.

Everyone coming together from all over the world.

Tiny birds everywhere, large ones too.

Everything muddled, everything busy.

Resting robins, storks standing, swans unfolded

Busy birds, busy people

Living in one place.

Above the buildings herons hover, blackbirds flutter

Kingfishers dive, peacocks with fan feathers open.

Every country, person and bird involved.

Blue sky up high, crowds down below

Iindividuals meeeting-dancers, footballers, others watching

Roaming chickens, penguins waddling

Dodos walking, ostrich running

Such a detailed picture.

Bethany Layton aged 7

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