PYRAMID Gallery is to exhibit 25 signed original screen prints by the godfather of Pop Art, Sir Peter Blake, from tomorrow.

Terry Brett, owner of the gallery in Stonegate, York, will launch the show with an art party from 6pm to 8.30pm, for which he has booked composer Peter Byrom-Smith to play classic guitar pieces during this private view. Wine and snacks will be served.

"We can't get Sir Peter to travel so far out of London, but we can at least toast his health at the respectful age of 81 and enjoy his humour and great sense of observation and nostalgia while looking at this magnificent collection of original prints," says Terry.

Alongside Blake's artworks will be a display by Somerset glass artist Will Shakspeare. "The whole show will have a very Sixties' feel to it," says Terry. "Blake's Pop Art and collages will sit very happily with the psychedelic patterns that are a natural element in Shakspeare's colourful vases and bowls."

The centrepiece of Blake's exhibition will be a silkscreen print of a montage of characters from the Beano, made in an edition of only 175, to mark the comic's 75th anniversary. Blake's collage depicts all the familiar comic-strip favourites – Dennis the Menace, Gnasher, Billy Wizz, Lord Snooty and Minnie the Minx et al – milling around the gates of an impressive Dundee High School; the very view that creator and editor George Moonie would have had from his office window as he dreamt up the stories.

Coriander Studio was initially approached by the Beano’s publisher DC Thomson in early 2013, after Blake’s work was referenced extensively by designer Wayne Hemingway in the creation of the new style guide for the Beano. The artist readily acknowledges the comic's influence on his own work, and further conversations led Blake to focus upon the Bash Street Kids comic strip, devised by Moonie in 1954.

Taking the Bash Street Kids as his inspiration, Blake substituted comic-strip children for the High School pupils, mixing old and new illustrations in his montage to show how the Beano has developed over 75 years.

Blake’s image typifies the exuberance of his Pop Art work, which explores all streams of popular culture, often focusing particularly on childhood reminiscence and nostalgia. Hence his fascination with the Beano, which he enjoyed as a boy.

The irreverent themes and flouting of authority explored in the Beano echo key tenets of Pop Art: flouting the rules of the fine art establishment. Many of Blake’s works feature found printed materials such as photographs, comic strips or advertising texts, combined with bold geometric patterns and the use of primary colours.

Now, in choosing to superimpose the colourful Beano characters in front of a monochrome vintage postcard-style image of Dundee High School, he continues to explore a template that has inspired much of his recent collage-based works, from the Venice Suite in 2009 to his Homage To Damien Hirst in 2011.

The exhibition will run from tomorrow until October 21 and will be open from 10am and 5pm, Monday to Saturday, and noon to 4.30pm on Sundays.