Grayson Perry on identity

A Map of Days ~ Grayson Perry

There's a rather good article in the Guardian this weekend about Grayson Perry's latest project which focuses on identidy, something which he's been interested in for a long time. I particularly like this bit.

'I ask whether the television project has taught him anything about his own identity. Of course, he says, you continue to learn. “I was reading a book by Julian Baggini about identity, and he said, ‘I is a verb masquerading as a noun.’ You perform yourself. It’s like going for a walk, you carry it along with you and it changes all the time. So the idea that there is a solid, consistent, tangible thing is an illusion.”

He compares it to the tapestry we’re sitting on. “If you want an analogy, all the colours are present right across the tapestry. There are 20 colours, that’s why it’s so thick. But the machine brings the colour to the surface when it’s needed. I think that’s an analogy for our character. We’ve got all of ourselves there, but the bit that’s necessary in any given moment comes to the surface. So, with my daughter, I’m a father. When I’m in the studio, I’m an artist. When I’m out, I’m ‘Grayson Perry’. So you ask what your identifiers are – artist, tranny, father, man, motorcyclist – and you’ve got a hierarchy of things. And that’s the nature of identity, isn’t it?”'

What a good analogy.

The Walthamstow Tapestry

Feeling more than a little wiped out at the moment. Just emerged from a four-week Ofsted inspection of Children's Services which is probably one of the least fun things I can think of, and as a consequence, we are now four weeks behind on the end of year returns, four of which have to be in by the end of June (we've started one...). Throw in an office move last Friday... who knows what chaos awaits when I go to the new place on Monday.

So, I have data fatigue and was feeling somewhat in need of a change. What better way to shake this off than with a visit to Winchester Discovery Centre to see Grayson Perry's Walthamstow Tapestry; a mind-blowing 15 metres of intricately detailed images and text woven by Flemish weavers.

It's Perry's comment on consumerism bound up in a 'seven ages of man' narrative. The tapestry is peppered with household brand names which sit supposedly randomly in amongst the images. Every inch of the picture plane is used and is heavy with symbolism and his influences are evident: medieval and folk art and Sumatran fabric for instance. It has been likened to the Bayeux Tapestry.

Despite some of the macabre imagery, it's a very beautiful thing. The colour and texture and the drawings themselves are lovely and one could gaze at it for hours and still find new details to delight and ponder over. Perry is a consummate doodler with humour - I mean that as a compliment - and it took me back to my childhood and the hours I spent immersed in my collection of Richard Scarry books. Again, this is not to denigrate the downright genius of the Walthamstow Tapestry, but rather, is a comment about the visual impact the work has and its ability to hold the attention. I think it's wonderful. And I'm very pleased to have been able to see it as I found a newspaper article today stating that last month, it was sold to an art school in China. It will be in Winchester until 6 July so go see it.

 

Influences 2 - Grayson Perry

 

Composition in my own work has changed over the years to become less… static? I don’t quite know what words to use here. My images have become a mix of elements, some portraiture, some narrative, some diagrammatic, with text thrown in for good measure; all jumbled up then fitted together like a jigsaw. I suppose I’ve always done this a bit but that way of working has gradually taken over. It may be partly due to moving from card cuts, where the image has to be complete before varnishing, to etching where the image can evolve over time. Elements can be added or taken away and this gives great flexibility to the creative process. 

 

I think it’s this that inspires me about Grayson Perry’s work. Rich, dark, satirical; his images evolve as he works on his pots or tapestries, almost like subconscious doodlings. I love his style of drawing and the macabre humour he often displays. His pots are always a surprise; beautiful in shape and colour schemes which, on closer inspection, reveal worlds of the grotesque and wryly comic. I guess I am also drawn to his pots for the craft aspect - there’s a lot of process and technique required in the same way that there is with etching. Steps, stages, states, layers. And the guy is such a dude. What’s not to like.

 

 

Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl

I've just finished reading Wendy Jones's biography of Grayson Perry, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl. It's an interesting but oddly written book; constructed in the first person as though the taped conversations, mentioned by Jones at the beginning, have been merely transcribed. I think this must be the case as the language is quite simple - not at all how Perry speaks during interviews about his work. Jones has written a couple of children's books so I wonder if it has been aimed at a younger audience... Or maybe the idea is to give the impression of a therapy session. There is certainly a confessional element to it; Perry talks at length about how his transvesticism developed and the sexual elements of it.

I have great admiration for Perry as an artist (and as a person obviously) and although I found the language somewhat dull and clunky, the content of the book was interesting. It's a fairly brief insight into his early years, through art college (his description of which was so like my own experience it was disturbing) and out the other side to the pottery evening classes he attended. If you want to know what he thinks about art however, you won't really find it here. Listen instead to his Reith Lectures series, Playing to the Gallery, on BBC iPlayer. Brilliant, intelligent, thought-provoking and funny.