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Blue Picasso by David Mach

Blue Picasso by David Mach

Blue Picasso references Mach’s series of sculptures known as ‘matchheads’. These are literally heads, often of famous figures but sometimes animals, that Mach constructs using brightly painted matches. This screenprint depicts one of the faces from Picasso’s 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon'.

One of the sculpted heads was accidently set alight by a collector and after Mach had seen the result he decided to start using the matchheads as performance pieces, setting them alight and dousing them with water to control the burn.

Printed and published by Advanced Graphics London as part of the London Suite II portfolio. Edition of 75.

This work is part of a portfolio of 20 prints produced by Advanced Graphics London in 2012, produced to celebrate 30 years since their first print venture in 1982: The London Suite, prints by ten London-based artists. This second suite includes 20 London artists, including six of the original 1982 contributors and eight RAs, who were all asked to produce screenprints with size being the only constraint. Some works have the addition of woodblock and some have as many as 25 separate printings or layers within the image.