Exciting news Peter Blake to sign new Homage to Damien Hirst canvasses at Art London Private View

Popfather Sir Peter Blake is unveiling canvas versions of his The Buttelfly Man: Homage to Damien Hirst at Art London on Wednesday night. The new canvases- 5 in the series- will be produced in a tiny edition of 10. We do not have images of the new works as yet...but watch this space as we will be adding them to the website.

Sir Peter will be attending the private view at Art London next Wednesday evening, and will be adding his signature to the new canvasses on our stand (34). The new works reflect a growing interest from the artist in 'super-sizing' things; he made large canvas versions of his Vichy Trio silkscreens last year (the Homage canvasses will be on a similar scale), and his Found Art works are based around massively enlarging objects that Blake finds of interest. I have to say, that with the immense amount of detail that is packed into the collage compositions, it will be a real pleasure to see them blown up.

To see the canvases in the flesh, come and see us at stand 34 next week at Art London (further details on our news page)

CCA are delighted to present new original work by Dan Baldwin

CCA are thrilled to present new original work by Dan Baldwin at Art London next week. We caught up with Dan to find our more about them....

CC: Dan, fans of your prints may not be aware of your work with vases, could you tell us how this came about, and what appeals to you about this medium?

Dan Baldwin: The vases started about 6 years ago by accident. I was doodling on a cheap pot from the pound shop that I'd bought- I'd been buying dog sculptures from pound land, hand-painting them and selling them in Selfridges. Then I had a lightning bolt moment in the studio where I thought of creating a range of vases with my spontaneous doodles on them. Over the years I've developed them to become an extension of my painting practice and they have proven to be  a very successful part of my output. The contrast between a beautiful feminine pot and darker subject matter interests me, and I think it is why they are successful; they are unique, unusual and beautiful.

CC: Could you tell us a little about the particular vase that will be on display at Art London?

DB: This is the largest vase I have made to date (I must clarify I am not a pot-maker, I work with a potter) 60/70cm high. It has to be made in sections on the wheel- very difficult! For the next series we are moulding in clay to create 3-D raised elements protuding from the sides.

(an earlier example of a vase by Dan Baldwin- not the vase to be shown at Art London)

CC: Thunder Coming is one of your new paintings, why did you choose to make this piece on wood rather than canvas like your other two new works?

DB: I hadn't painted for a month or so, and I just had the urge to make a piece just for me, just to paint. So I cut some wood as it was all I had, and just lay down colours and shape and it become Thunder Coming .

CC: Thunder Coming is a very powerful and ominous title, could you pick up on the main themes you explore in this work?

DB: Each painting takes on its own feeling; this had a real static tension about it, like an electricity buzz and it made me think of thunder, and animals hiding, also a radioactive feel to it- a storm brewing up. It explores the chaotic harmony between science, nature and man. The title could also have a double meaning; that's something I love playing with- when you see the crucifix with flames...the storm is brewing....

Thunder Coming

CC: Love. This painting has a completely contrasting atmosphere from Thunder Coming, it gives off a sense of joy and relaxation on a sunny afternoon. Is there a storty behind this, does the ice lolly hold some significance?

DB: Yes- massive significance. I worked in a video shop for five years or so in Hove whilst I was still on the road to being a full-time artist. It was a great shop; specialised in arthouse cinema and always played good music, and was generally a bit of a hang-out. Annie (my girlfriend) was a regular customer of the shop, I remember serving her for years. One day she stopped coming in. Two years later I was walking along, back from Milan, just off to the train, and I saw Annie coming towards me. I did a double-take and so did she, we had this moment in the street. Months later, one summers day, she walked up to me with an ice lolly, holding it in her hand and said 'you look like you need this'. It was the first time she ever spoke to me and she almost didn't go through with it out of a nervous fear, but she felt she had to make contact. Another six months went by, I was single, so was she, I asked her out for dinner and our date lasted 36 hours. That was five years ago and now we have an 11 month-old baby.

The piece Love was originally going to be called Peach, as that is Annie's favourite colour. Then it became Peach Video Girl, and as the painting grew I changed it to just Love. There is a lot of symbolism in the work: the poppy, the orchid, the swallow, the little girl, the little boy, a bird feeding its young, and the skeletal hand/figure searching for its love even in the afterlife. It was the beginning of this series I want to make called Spectrum; more about colour, harmony, beauty. I also like the melting ice lolly as a metaphor, there's something striking about it, dropped by a child or discarded- left to melt....

Love

CC: Spirit. Does the title refer to the human spirit- the gift of imagination and determination? Or does it refer to a spiritualism in the religious sense? How important is faith as a theme in your work?

DB: I think it is all of the above. It took on this feel of another world- a higher place- up in the clouds-  a place not of this earth. It went throuh weeks of layering until I was happy with it. I didn't want to call it 'Heaven' or 'Purgatory', but wanted it to be outer-worldly. I have faith in my life, not a religious faith, but a positive thinking; I've always had the feeling that I'll be ok- an inner faith, or a voice- but don't think of that as God, its my inner voice that's what I listen to. Some paintings are like a battle to get right. This one was; I had to keep painting over things, cleaning up, re-working. You go through the fight sometimes to make it come good, like you're pulling it and pushing it, and you like this part but not that etc, you work through that until it is solid and balanced and it all unites together. Even if the message isn't clear it's the evocation of feeling that is important. In this piece there is nature, death of nature, religion, anthropology, evolution, conflict. There's a child-like element to it too, a bit of snakes and ladders, of fairy tale, floaty....that's why Spirit worked well as a title.

CC: Thanks Dan!

Spirit

COMING SOON to CCA website Raphael Revisited by Tom Phillips

We are giving you a teaser of the new silkscreen edition by Tom Phillips CBE RA that will be available to purchase online from next week: Raphael Revisited.

Raphael Revisited- signed limited edition silkscreen print by British contemporary artist Tom Phillips.

Raphael Revisited

Silkscreen version of Tom Phillips' 1972 oil on canvas 'After Raphael', inspired by Phillips' fascination with the Golden Section. The Golden Section is a divine and ideal proportional relationship, a geometrical term that has fascinated architects, artists and mathematicians from the Renaissance onwards, it has been seen as a mystical harmony that pervades all nature.

Phillips writes, 'As in the paradox of the poet freed by rhyme, the ratist can be liberated by a system of great rigidity.'

When we think of the renaissance fascination with this theory works such as Leonardo da Vinci's 'Vitruvian Man' or the buildings of Palladio spring to mind. Phillips' preoccupation with mystical proportions 'crops up whenever my work causes me to look back to an Italy or a Greece of the past for inspiration'.

Raphael Revisitied is a transcription of a Votive picture, Umbrian School c. 1490-1500 that Phillips became fanilair with at the Walker Art Gallery whilst judging the John Moores Prize in 1971, and which has been attributed to the young Raphael. Phillips has reworked this image according to the Golden Section. This is a process that Phillips has experimented with throughout his career, 'It was in the seventies however (this obsession seems to return at regular intervals) that I made my most concentrated effort to construct a picture according to the dictates of such a network of co-ordinates'. Having decided to make a work based on the little votive picture Phillips examined the work and found a lack of geometrical basis in the original, 'This very absence of order decided me to abandon the copy and work on a picture in which an imposed system would conflict with the compositional arrangement of the original'.Phillips also changed the format of the work from landscape to portrait.

Votive Picture, Umbrian School, c.1490-1500

Phillips created a version of the picture in the form of a diptych with one canvas showing all the constructional elements and the other the finished painting. He also made a larger single version After Raphael that combines both elements on one surface where the network of lines which guided every nuance and interval of its configuration can still be clearly discerned. It is from this version that Raphael Revisited is reproduced.

An excerpt from After Raphael features on the cover of Brian Eno's 'Another Green World' album 1975.

Getting to Know Charlotte Cornish

Abstract artist Charlotte Cornish talks to us about her work, inspiration, and  life as an artist:

Describe your ethos as an artist/How would you describe your work?

CC: I see myself predominantly as a painter and printmaker. Printmaking has always been an important part of my practice and has greatly informed the approach I have to making my paintings. I build my paintings up in layers of applied paint - dripped and poured - in much the same way that I make the stencils for my prints. I very much think in terms of layers. Colour is central to my work and I am continually fascinated and intrigued by the qualities of colour and the power of colour combinations.

 Striking a Balance I

What Inspires you?

CC: I am greatly inspired by places I have travelled to or visited, and all of my work is drawn from personal experience.

Did you always want to be an artist?

CC: I grew up surrounded by art - both my parents were art teachers who also made their own work and weekends were often spent in museums and art galleries. I think it must have been in my blood!

What is an average day in the life of Charlotte Cornish?

CC: First thing, my dog gets a good walk, then into the studio - I usually paint for at least four hours every day. This seems to be the minimum amount of time for me to settle in to the work and feel like I've made good progress. If all is going well, I spend longer there, especially if I have deadlines for exhibitions or commissions. The rest of the day is often spent at the computer doing admin - replying to emails, sending images of work to galleries or prospective customers etc.

Kindred IV

Who is your favourite artist/ artwork?

CC: Over the years I have been influenced and have admired many artists work. I was very shocked and saddened to hear of the recent death of John Hoyland. I have had great respect for his work and have closely followed his practice as an artist ever since meeting him at The Slade School of Art many years ago. I will really miss the opportunity of continuing to experience his work.

What do you think of the Arts in Britain today?

CC: The Arts in Britain today are incredibly diverse and this is, in many ways, very exciting, allowing for many possibilities and forms of expression. Personally, I continue to be drawn to the medium of painting and printmaking, and so most of the exhibitions I visit tend to be of painters or printmakers work.

Portal II

What is your favourite exhibition space?

CC: I love the Tate Modern! I was lucky enough to go the opening of it and this made a lasting impression on me - such a great space.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

CC: Probably making a living from my work - it's a roller coaster but I've survived so far!

Which talent would you most like to possess?

CC: It would be pretty amazing to be able to look in to the future... although, I guess I would want to only see good things!

One book to take to a desert island...

CC: Ooh - just one - that's hard...I may have to think about that one for a bit longer...

How would you like people to view your work in the future?

CC: I hope my work captures, or hints at, something universal about what it feels like to be alive and I so would like to think that this would continue to communicate to people in the future.

Name a current exhibition that you would like to see/would recommend

CC: Hoping to get to the Royal Academy and see Albert Irvin's print exhibition and also Frank Bowling's works on paper exhibition.

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