A wooden structure reminds us of a wall or a house door. On its surface, we find souvenirs of past moments: a sort of memorial-wall, as those that exist in many houses, filled with photos of loved ones, of known people or postcards from past vacations.

 

Peter Blake built it on a rectangular format, with wooden strips painted in a greyish-blue, creating two small rectangles that circumscribe a square at the centre. The outcome is a very geometric arrangement of space, which is then “contaminated” by multiple postcards (of Valentine Days, anniversaries, weddings), with images of movie stars (as Marilyn Monroe), extracted from contemporary newspapers or magazines, and further joined by letters and, repeatedly, by the number two, both displayed in a random manner. All the elements refer us to love scenes and pets, kitschy or fictional scenes, or scenes from movies, where we find the same pattern: the virile man and the pretty woman who longs for his protecting embrace. It is, thus, transmitted and/or questioned the idea of the couple as a condition of happiness.

 

In the sixties, Blake started working with wooden boards, preferring that support to the traditional canvas. In this way, he calls into question the conventional medium historically associated with art – which is to be found undergoing a transformation. Blake also questions the image of women – central in this work – whose possibilities of living were also undergoing a radical change brought on by the hippie and feminist movements (and mostly due to the introduction of the contraceptive pill).

 

The work showcases the evolution of a stereotype, but in making ambiguous the relationship being established with it: we might consider it exalted or, on the contrary, ironic and nostalgic.

 

AG

November 2011