Dimension (x,y,z):
35.43 x 29.53 inches (90.00 x 75.00 cm) Original Price: 1800.00GBP Run: 100
Marcel Duchamp's World Tour- New Year's Eve Parade at the Tower Ballroom, Blackpool
By: Peter Blake
Published: 2015
Image Size: 677 mm X 535 mm
Paper Size: 900 mm X 750 mm
Edition Size: 100
£1,800
In the early 2000s Peter Blake made a series of paintings under the title Marcel Duchamp's World Tour, these large works centred on the idea of Marcel Duchamp finding himself in unexpected situations: playing chess with Tracey Emin, or on a tour bus with the Spice Girls. His two new prints are an extension of this playful concept, and here Marcel finds himself at Blackpool Tower Ballroom in some of the most Dadaist company you could imagine. Blake's homage to Duchamp is not surprising; he paved the way for many modern and contemporary art movements including pop art, installation art and conceptual art, as well as influencing many of the YBAs (Hirst, Emin. Quinn, Turk-all of whom are friends of Blake). Duchamp's mission statement that anything an artist did could be art, has certainly been central to Blake's work and his philosophy of fine art. Duchamp can be spotted in both prints; in New Year's Eve Parade he is in the guise of his female alter ego Rrose Selavy.
The Blackpool Tower Ballroom is an obvious choice for an artist who has always been fascinated by popular leisure activities. He populates the ballroom with a magic crowd. Each figure and animal painstakingly cut out from his personal collection of print ephemera. The choice of revellers includes clowns, wizards, mermaids, sailors and tribal warriors- mirroring the Dada principles of nonsense and irrationality.
