Peter Blake’s work crosses all generational divides and inspires great respect from many younger artists such as Damien Hirst, Gavin Turk and Tracey Emin. Blake's work reflects his fascination with all streams of popular culture, and the beauty to be found in everyday objects and our surroundings. Many of his works feature found printed materials such as photographs, comic strips or advertising texts, combined with bold geometric patterns and the use of primary colours. There is also a strain of sentimentality and nostalgia running throughout Blake’s work, with particular focus towards childhood innocence and reminiscence.
Like many artists of his time, Blake came of age in a country recovering from the war so many of his interests were drawn toward the bright and happy lifestyle that was being touted in America via their booming advertising industry. Blake utilised ground breaking new methods such as screen-printing to create optimistic and bold renditions of life in magazines, on posters and billboards. This challenged the status quo's idea about what constituted art and broke down barriers between traditional fine art and the new cutting-edge field of Pop.
