primary defeat, saying she s thinking about running for president. the congresswoman is one of donald trump s fiercest critics, and lost to a candidate hand picked by mr trump. she says she ll make a decision in the coming months. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. london prides itself on being a culture capital. this city buzzes with creativity. now artistic trends come and go, of course, but my guest today has retained his status as the godfather of pop art for some six decades. sir peter blake came to fame in the 1960s. he is still painting today. so what keeps his creativity alive? sir peter blake, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. are you still creating, painting, doing the collage every day? do you still get that urge? i do. i get quite a lot of pain at the moment. i ve got a sore neck, which sometimes begins to hurt and i have to stop, but i work every day. i haven t worked today yet, but i looked at what i m working on. let me take you r
so what keeps his creativity alive? sir peter blake, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. are you still creating, painting, doing the collage every day? do you still get that urge? i do. i get quite a lot of pain at the moment. i ve got a sore neck, which sometimes begins to hurt and i have to stop, but i work every day. i haven t worked today yet, but i looked at what i m working on. let me take you right back, because i m always interested with artists to figure out what impelled them to create. you had a tough childhood in some ways. you were a war child. yeah. you spent years away from home and family, in environments where there wasn t actually much to play with. it was sometimes quite lonely, and you had to use your imagination. do you think that was important in your development? it probably was, and i ve never really thought about that. it probably was, but at the time it wasn t part of my plan. i mean, i had no intention or thought about being an artist. and the period yo
he was in the year before me at the royal college, and who i would say was a friend. and he goes to work every day, he looks like an artist, he s got a proper studio with a lot of paint on the floor. he s a proper artist. i m not, and i don t claim to be. i m not an artist in that sense. i mean, i do work every day. i can t believe you re telling me you re not a proper artist. i m a different artist. and what they didn t like about me was that difference. those critics didn t, couldn t understand why i would be common and vulgar enough to do a record cover. that was their problem. there were critics like brian sewell. oh, brian sewell was a separate case. he was a vicious, nasty man. i mean, i know he s dead, but he was vicious. and he picked on hockney,
i mean, as you ve said, you had the training. i always used frank auerbach as an example, who s an absolute. he was in the year before me at the royal college, and who i would say was a friend. and he goes to work every day, he looks like an artist, he s got a proper studio with a lot of paint on the floor. he s a proper artist. i m not, and i don t claim to be. i m not an artist in that sense. i mean, i do work every day. i can t believe you re telling me you re not a proper artist. i m a different artist. and what they didn t like about me was that difference. those critics didn t, couldn t understand why i would be common and vulgar enough to do a record cover. that was their problem. there were critics like brian sewell. 0h, brian sewell was a separate case.