Pop Art idol launches Atrium art

---

Sir Peter Blake opens exhibition of local art

Sir Peter Blake launched an exhibition of local art this week at the Atrium gallery.  Joined at the launch on Thursday 16th March by local artists Tom Quigley, Jenny Fernando, Afra Dojaily and John O'Carroll, Peter Blake opened the exhibition will run until Sunday 9th April 2006.

Sir Peter rose to fame as one of the leading lights of the pop art movement of the 1960s. He designed the iconic cover of the Beatles' album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Andy Warhol is often cited as the founder of pop art but, in fact, Sir Peter created his Captain Webb Matchbox before Warhol's soup tin paintings used consumer products as art. His fondness for popular culture can be clearly seen in much of his eclectic collages and silk screen prints with images of Marilyn Monroe mixing with Mona Lisa. Sir Peter's first brush with fame came when he was featured in Ken Russell's seminal film Pop Goes the Easel which was shown on the BBC in 1962. He was knighted by the Queen in 2002.

The Atrium exhibition features figurative and abstract sculpture in ceramic, plaster and wax, plus framed drawings in charcoal, ink and pastel. Tom Quigley's series of works celebrates the artistic vibrancy of the capital. "Hammersmith is still a place where artists like to be, to live, to work and to teach," he says. John O'Carroll was taught by Ruskin Spear in the Hammersmith College of Art and Building, Jenny Fernando attends the drawing class at the Macbeth centre."

"We are extremely grateful to Sir Peter for making the time to launch our exhibition", says Cllr Charlie Treloggan, Mayor of Hammersmith & Fulham. "His work sparked a creative revolution across the globe and has touched the lives of millions of ordinary people. He is an inspiration."

In addition to the Atrium exhibition Blueprint for Living is a collection of fantastic photos taken without a camera! Fine art photographer Angela Easterling has created a series of life size pictures of Agewell members, mature people engaged in physical activities from aquacise to yoga.

These 6ft 6 photographs are created without a camera. Models lie on huge sheets of photographic paper and are exposed in the sun. Although the process was invented in 1842 by the scientist Sir John Herschel, the images are truly contemporary and dynamic.

Easterling has worked in the British Virgin Islands and Seychelles for Kew and The Eden Project and her photograms of plants have also been exhibited at The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Fox Talbot Museum and The Photographers' Gallery. She is delighted that "Blueprint for Living" is on show at the Riverside Studios, her first exhibition in her home borough.

Blueprint for Living, a camera-less photography exhibition by Angela Easterling, runs from Monday 27 March to Sunday 23 April at Riverside Studios.

Hammersmith & Fulham festival runs until April 9 at venues across the borough. It features music, art, sport, cultural events and children's activities.                   

March 17, 2006