View our collectable art highlights for December 2013 by taking a walk around the walls of our gallery. Gallery team member Jess Miles takes you through three fantastic art works including an outstanding Peter Blake limited edition, a brilliant contemporary Pop Art piece by Pakpoom Silaphan and a beautiful Jake Wood-Evans art work.
Peter Blake, ‘London – Piccadilly’ art print: This digital print on canvas is a signed limited edition of 8. You might have seen it in the London Suite which was a set of 10 prints which depicted different scenes and landmarks of London. This is Piccadilly Circus over run with comic book characters. We’ve got Spiderman and Superman, Minnie Mouse, Beano, there’s Charlie Brown in there also and Snoopy. It’s something that the kids are going to recognise and it’s pretty nostalgic, taking you back to your own childhood, which is something really charming.
Pakpoom Silaphan, ‘Double Ali on Coke’ art print: This is by Thai artist Pakpoom Silaphan. Silaphan creates really strong images using the backgrounds of advertising such as Coke, Fanta and Sprite and combines them with classic icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan and now he’s done Muhammad Ali. The printing methods used are silkscreen and giclee to create the effect of the original collage. It’s got some glazes where Muhammad Ali is and the background is quite matt which recreates the rustiness of the tin. As a child he collected advertising billboards then went away to study art, came back to Thailand and rediscovered them and now they form the foundations of his work.
Jake Wood-Evans, ‘Lucid Dream’ art print: Jake Wood-Evans tends to use the traditional medium of oil paint and is inspired by old masters. He turns it into something quite contemporary; he uses modern day techniques to get completely different effects. He’s brilliant at contrasting the light from the dark. This is one of his fresher pieces; it’s got more of a spring feel. It features two naked figures walking to the end of the jetty and the ending is left untold. It’s very ethereal and it takes you into a dream like state. It’s beautifully printed so you can actually see the texture of the canvas coming through on the print.