Grayson Perry: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever!

Wonderful exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery of new work by Grayson Perry.

OK I admit, like most of middle class England, I am a huge fan of Grayson Perry and this show didn’t disappoint. Just as the other show at the Serpentine was not about my tribe this one definitely was. The show looked at how we can widen the audience for art without dumbing down and what makes art and the idea of an artist popular.

The first room did this most directly and I loved a vase called “Visitor Figures” which looked at the most popular exhibitions in recent times. I was pleased I’d been to quite a few but picking the list of the vase did make you think about how shows influence taste and thinking.  I loved the large woodcut “Reclining Artist” with a naked self-portrait with him surrounded by his possessions including piles of books.

In the next room I loved “Death of a Working Hero” a tapestry in the style of a miners union using the funeral of a miner to represent the death of the industry and the changes to those communities.

The main room was works examining Brexit with two vases looking at those who voted leave and remain. These were shown with a huge new tapestry looking at the current state of Britain including a burnt out car in a field, lorries heading out of the Chanel Tunnel and ghostly images of patchwork underneath. It reminded me of the Good and Bad government fresco in Sienna.

The final room included the motorbike Perry designed and used on one of his recent series including the little seat on the back for his teddy bear. There was also a piece called “Marriage Shrine”, a take on a roadside shrine but images of him and his wife and objects that are significant to them.

Closes on 10 September 2017

Reviews
Times
Guardian
Telegraph
Evening Standard

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thomas Becket: Murder and Making of a Saint

Image
Stunning exhibition at the British Museum on the life and afterlife of Thomas Becket. I studied Becket both at A Level and at university so I was really looking forward to this show and it did not disappoint. From walking in to see an old friend, the early Limoges casket showing the murder from the Victoria and Albert Museum, I was gripped. The show told the story well using fantastic objects and led you through his life, the murder, the political aftermath, his sainthood and miracles, and how Canterbury became a major pilgrimage site. It is hard to pick out the best objects as so many were wonderful. I loved that they had early copies of some of the five eyewitness accounts of the murder which made you fell you were almost touching the event. I liked the manuscript on his time in exile which was almost like a comic strip. How wonderful to get a 13th century font from Sweden which shows how far and how quickly the news that Henry II had integrated the murder spread. I think my
Read more

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year Exhibition 2019

Image
Delightful exhibition at Clarendon Fine Art showing pictures from the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year TV series. I had loved the series which had set nine artists, both professional and amateur, to paint one of three celebrities. It then had a semi-final and final with them all looking at one sitter and in the final they also took on a commission. I loved the way you watched a picture build and how some were then made or spoiled by one stroke of paint.   Finding these pictures I knew so well in the flesh was therefore fascinating. None of them disappointed. My favourite artist from the final, Tom Mead, works looked just as good in real life if not better as you could see the detail. The show included his impressive self-portrait which he submitted to enter the competition, a wonderful fragmented picture of his reflection in a mirror giving a sense of movement. I loved that it included a large version of him and a miniature. His commission for the final of Jazzie B was
Read more

The Renaissance Nude

Image
Beautiful exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the nude in Renaissance art. The show was gently themed but mainly let the pictures speak for themselves. It began by looking at the subjects, both religious and secular, which include nude figures then examined techniques and models used in these works, finishing by looking at more personal pictures. This is a period I’ve studied a lot so there were a lot of old friends and it was quite fun predicting what might appear. There were a few surprises too such as the rather surprising drawing of the Ecstatic Christ. I liked the fact the show included lots of different art forms not just paintings including sculpture, etchings, drawings and illuminated manuscripts. There were some fascinating hangs to draw comparisons particularly two sets of pictures by Giovanni Bellini and Hand Memling from almost exactly the same date. These were shown back to back in a display cabinet down the middle of one room. My favourite work was
Read more