People love to use the term "Godfather". To me it always seems a bit creepy. People love to call Peter Blake one of the Godfathers of Pop Art which doesn't sit easy with me because he has always struck me as such a warm, cuddly, gnome-like personality.
I would never expect him to wield a gun nor blackmail someone. Even less kill nor deal drugs.
He might not really be much of a Godfather, but he was absolutely a pioneer and now he is quite old. But he is still out there making and creating and rocking his own brand of British, folky Pop Art.
At 73 Blake has made this incredibly humble but amazingly tender and beautiful collection of polaroids of slices of his home, studio and collections of "stuff". Once again, the medium of the polariod takes on a charm and glance that is missing in a lot of icy digital photography today.
The polaroid has a handmadeness that totally suits the man behind the Sgt Pepper's album cover. Dolls, clowns, puppets, African necklaces - looking at these photographs is like taking a micro stroll around Blake's studio or mind. Things look a little dusty, fuzzy or over-exposed. They seem beautifully humble, until you look at the pricetag of £950. But given he was only ever paid £200 for his legendary work on Sgt Pepper's - somehow all is balanced in the universe.
Opus Art
Opus Gallery
West Avenue
Gosforth NE3 4ES
Newcastle upon Tyne
www.opus-art.com