Biography
Blake was born in 1956 in the Canadian Arctic. After graduating from the University of Alberta, his training in figurative sculpture continued in Paris for four years where he was inspired by the works of Houdon, Rodin, and Carpeaux.
Blake's Fragments series reaches into antiquity and draws from his own teaching experience in Vietnam. In November 2003, at the invitation of the Hanoi Fine Arts University, he became the first westerner to teach in the official curriculum since 1945. During this time, he travelled throughout Vietnam to Cambodia and witnessed the continuing effects of a war that had ended over 25 years earlier.
"What touched me was that the war was still taking causalities with landmines and unexploded ordinance. And that affected me. I felt that I had to do something about it. ... My original search for beauty in my artwork led to this project to provoke positive change. And it is working."
Blake currently resides in the Principality of Monaco where his first public sculpture was installed in 1994. His studio, Atelier Blake, on 5 Rue des Violettes, Monte Carlo is open by appointment.
Curriculum Vitae
Education:
1975 History of Art British Academy, Rome, Italy
1975-1979 Honours Degree in Sculpture, University of Alberta, Canada
1986-1989 Apprentice: figurative sculpture, Studio of Cyril Heck, Paris, France
Exhibitions:
1975 Group Exposition, "The Canadian Arctic", Arctic Art Gallery, Yellowknife, NWT Canada
1979 Graduating Exhibition, University of Alberta Art Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1982 Studio Exhibition, Niagara Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1984 Studio Exhibition, S.I.G.M.A. Sculptors In Greater Manchester Area, Old Hulm Hall Road, Manchester, England
1989 Group Exhibition "Le Genie De La Bastille", Rue de Charonne, Paris, France
1990 Group Exposition "101st Salon Des Artistes Independants", Grand Palais, Paris, France
1991 Studio Exhibition, Liberty Street, Toronto Ontario, Canada
1992 Monaco Fine Arts Gallery, Place du Casino, Monte-Carlo, Monaco
1993 Group Exposition "Festival Des Arts", Beaulieu-Sur-Mer, France
1993 Marie Ferrer Gallery, Winter Park, Florida, USA
1993 Gallery Exposition, Galerie du Ruisseau, Paris, France
1994 Les Atlantes, Public Installation, Fontvieille, Monaco
1994 Skulpturenpark, Herzogin Diane, Altshausen Württemberg, Germany
1995 The Bather and 1989 Emerging Continents, Public Installation, Monaco
1996 Group Exhibition, "The Portrait", Museum of Menton, Menton, France
1997 Gallery Exhibition, Gildo Pastor Centre Gallery, Fontvieille, Monaco
1998 L'Messenger, Public Installation, Fontvieille, Monaco
2000 L'Eveil, Public Installation, Place des Moulins, Monte Carlo, Monaco
2001 Studio Exhibition, Rue des Violettes, Monte-Carlo, Monaco
2002 Group Exhibition "Adam et Eve" Auction for the Monegasque Association Against Muscular Dystrophy, Hotel de Paris, Monte Carlo, Monaco
2003 Solo Exhibition, "The Spirit and the Figure", Banque du Gothard, Monte Carlo, Monaco
2004 Guest Professor, Fine Arts University of Hanoi, Vietnam
2005 Decoration for the opera "Faust", Grimaldi Forum, L'Association des Amis de l'Opéra, Monte Carlo, Monaco
2005 Studio Exhibition (Coutts), Rue des Violettes, Monte-Carlo, Monaco
2006 Guest Professor, Fine Arts University of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Biography
Blake was born in 1956 in northern Canada. His artistic life began during the 1970s in the University of Alberta, Western Canada, amid the artistic explosion that occurred at the end of the modern art era. Under the influence of his University professor, who was a student of Anthony Caro, Blake began creating abstract steel sculptures which concentrated on spatial relationships, volume and positive and negative form - as with many artists working during this period his art was also affected by the leading art critic Clement Greenberg.
Towards the end of Blake's university life, he started to move away from the abstract trend and focused on creating figurative sculpture, a direction with which the university could not assist him. In his search for formal training in figurative sculpture, Blake moved to Paris where he studied for 4 years. The city of Paris became a creative inspiration for him and the works of Houdon, Rodin, and Carpeaux all became important artistic influences.
Once Blake had begun his career as a professional artist, his work took on a more decorative style in order to satisfy the commercial market, and he created a series of sculptures based on dance, women, and mythology. In later work Blake has gravitated back towards political commentary that influenced his early lithograph prints inspired by censorship in China, and the murder of Aldo Moro in Italy. In 1989, Blake produced one of his first politically inspired sculptures, contrasting the fall of the Berlin wall with the silencing of the pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square, China.
Other influences in Blake's artistic development were his experiences in Italy, Greece, and Turkey. During his visits there, he became aware of the complex artistic treatments of the human figure throughout history, and in particular the fragmented sculptures from the ancient Greek and Roman periods, which, through the course of history, had been damaged by the continuous cycle of wars. These archaeological remains physically illustrated the reality of war to Blake - the lack of glory in destruction, and the surviving nature of man.
Blake's fragmented work not only reached into antiquity but was to draw on his period teaching in Vietnam: In November 2003, at the invitation of the Fine Arts University of Hanoi, Blake became the first westerner to teach as a part of the official curriculum in Vietnam since 1945. During this time, Blake travelled throughout Vietnam to Cambodia and witnessed the continuing effects of a war that ended over 25 years before. "What touched me was that they were still living the war I had known as child on television, so far removed from me, yet documented in colour on the nightly news. These images had lived on somewhere in my mind and here was the evidence that this war was still taking causalities".
The Fragment series, based on victims of war, was further inspired by Blake's and his artistic interest in the mislead glorification of war. The intense daily media coverage of the war in Canada and the USA, with its powerful imagery of military action began to deeply affect him. Blake's family also became involved some years later when the family business, the airline "Wardair Canada", helped in the Canadian Government rehabilitation program by carrying up to 32,000 refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia to Canada.
"My original search for beauty is an adventure that has led finally to the need for my artwork to make a statement beyond beauty. My goal is to create sculptures that provoke and encourage the interrogation of society. My art is humanistic, representational and investigative."
Blake currently resides in the Principality of Monaco where his first public sculpture was installed in 1994. This monumental work, "Les Atlantes" consist of three life size figures, was the first of five sculptures on permanent public display. Blake's work has since been exhibited in numerous cities across Canada, France, Germany, and the United States. www.blake.a
Art for good
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