Who is popular today?

The artist, 91, on not being taken seriously, his first solo sculpture show, and why his Beatles’ Sgt Pepper cover has been a mixed blessingPeter Blake was born in Dartford, Kent in 1932 and went to art school at Gravesend Technical College. Leaving at the age of 15, he did national service and then trained at the Royal College of Art. His early works were critical to the definition of British pop art. In 1967, famously, he designed the cover for the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In his varied career since, he has continued to develop an idiosyncratic and iconic style in paintings, collages, drawing and sculpture. He lives in Chiswick with his second wife, the artist Chrissy Wilson, to whom he has been married for 37 years.How does it feel to be showing what is effectively your first solo sculpture show at the age of 91?About 10 years ago, I was making a lot of very diverse work – painting, drawing, collages, sculpture. And I realised a lot of it would never be seen, that I was unlikely to have a third retrospective. So I decided to mount a series of shows with [the gallery] Waddington Custot. The first was portraits and people, the second drawing. This is the sculpture element of that concept. There are also three series of collages that I’ve made in the last two years. I still sit with a pair of scissors. Continue reading...