Grayson Perry: Map of Days - Work in focus

Fascinating little display at the Royal Academy focusing on Grayson Perry’s Diploma work, Map of Days (2013).

Shown within the permanent exhibition “The Making of an Artist : The Great  Tradition” this large-scale etching, which he has described as a “self-portrait as a fortified town”, are a selection of prints and books from the RA Collection relating to Perry’s sources in creating Map of Days and at how artists traditionally created a sense of their identity in self-portraits.

I loved an example of Renaissance printed map design for a fortress at Palmanova which is very close to Perry’s spikey structure as well as one of the photographs of Lost London than he used in the design. It was a nice touch to hang this unusual self-portrait of an artists mind along side other print self-portraits of academicians over the ages.

Closes 31 December 2020

 

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