Godfather of Pop Art Sir Peter Blake, best known for designing the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's album cover, launched a new app that allows users to remix his work.
Dazzle It is inspired by early 20th century artists who painted British vessels in dazzle camouflage to confuse enemy U-boats. Sir Peter recently dazzled the Mersey Ferry Snowdrop in a new commission by Liverpool Biennial, 14-18 NOW and Tate Liverpool, in partnership with National Museums Liverpool and Merseytravel. Now, aspiring artists around the world can remix his Everybody Razzle Dazzle design and apply it to their own photos or gallery images, thereby creating an infinite number of possibilities to remix Sir Peter's work.
The dazzle image remix can then be applied to a 3D model, e.g. ships, a windsurfer, rubber duck - and viewed, via their device's camera, within an augmented reality scene. Dazzle It users can also choose Tobias Rehberger's Dazzle Ship London monochrome pattern, which feature on the HMS President (1918) vessel on the Thames.
"Dazzle It uses cutting-edge technology that allows aspiring artists everywhere to remix my design and discover more about the way in which early 20th century artists participated in the war effort," Sir Peter stated.
Users can share their unique 3D artwork across social networks or upload it directly to a gallery which features more information about dazzle ships - and unlike most augmented reality apps, the user does not need to have a pre-supplied marker to view their dazzle in a real-world scene.