Polaroid snaps by Sir Peter Blake are going on show for the first time in Newcastle this weekend. David Whetstone talked to the artist about his brush with instant photography

At an earlier Opus exhibition in Newcastle, in 2006, he said his interest in this was fired in the 1960s when he was a visiting art lecturer at Newcastle University and saw the Merz Barn by Kurt Schwitters.

This famous artwork, a permanent attraction at Newcastle’s Hatton Gallery, was created as a sort of art grotto, featuring myriad bits and pieces, after Schwitters fled Nazi Germany. The Blake Polaroids, similarly, provide an insight into the artistic mind. What catches a major artist’s eye? What is considered worthy not only of being displayed in the studio but of photographing for an exhibition?

I put it to Sir Peter that displaying Polaroids – many millions of which must have been taken over the years – is bound to make people say: “I could have done that.” So were his efforts of special merit?

“I think so,” he replied. “I suppose you could use the same argument about a piece of paper and a pencil. Anyone could make a mark but if you give those things to someone like David Hockney, you’ll end up with something magical.

“Actually, Hockney is a good example because he made some extraordinary Polaroid pieces, taking photographs of a big landscape or subject and then sticking them all together.”

Sir Peter Blake took the Polaroid project very seriously, producing first one batch of 30 images and then a second, with some efforts being discarded. All were signed and dated in the artist’s hand.

He likened each Polaroid to a little drawing, an unrepeatable one-off reflecting the artist’s unique vision.

The body of work, which has already created a tremor of excitement in the art world, goes on public view for the first time at the Opus Gallery on Saturday at 10am.

Each of the Polaroids – also available on-line via www.opus-art.com – is for sale at a launch price of £950. That might seem a lot for a small, square photograph, but Opus Art points out that Polaroids by past masters such as Andy Warhol and Helmut Newton can now change hands for more than £30,000 at auction. Even Marc Quinn’s floral efforts are now priced at considerably more than the launch price.

Polaroids by Sir Peter Blake can be seen at Opus Gallery, West Avenue, Gosforth, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm, until August 1.