Grayson Perry
dal 22/3/2002 al 13/4/2002
Segnalato da
22/3/2002
Grayson Perry
Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York
Grayson Perry has always been seen as a sort of rebellious character in the art world and his career has developed as that of a provocateur, making radical statements about contemporary society through his decorative pots, photographs and drawings.
How I Thought of Myself
Grayson Perry has always been seen as a sort of rebellious character in the art
world and his career has developed as that of a provocateur, making radical
statements about contemporary society through his decorative pots, photographs
and drawings.
A preoccupation with the inane seems to permeate much of Grayson Perry’s work.
At first glance his pots seem to mimic the shape and form of ancient storage
jars and earthenware vessels. Using the age-old Greek tradition of storytelling
in the round, each of Perry’s narratives develops in a circular fashion around
the vase. His surfaces are alive, with color, texture and applications of
luster and glaze. Yet, while one may expect Perry’s stories to be merely
decorative, they are instead full of a dizzying range of vulgarity and
seduction. His work takes in an impressive span of issues from the family to
the art world, fashion, urban living and even the occasional celebrity or
boring cool person (as Perry refers to them). Perry delights in straying from
normal classifications and it is through his intimate confessions and witty
social commentary that his work finds its place in the contemporary art world.
According to Perry, sincerity is the most subversive tool in!
art.
Yet it is humor and a very British style of satire that binds form and content
in Perry’s work Grayson Perry’s alter ego Claire is a six-foot tall blond who
is one of the principal characters throughout his work. In How I Thought of
Myself, Perry depicts himself as a 14-year-old boy dressed in drag against the
backdrop of rural London. In this intimate confession we see Perry at his most
vulnerable. However Claire is not merely a construct of Perry’s imagination.
An independent personality, who spilt from Perry around the time of puberty
Claire often attends gallery openings and has even been seen protesting on the
steps of the Tate Gallery. Perry describes his alter ego as a forty-something
women living in a Barratt home, the kind of woman who eats ready meals and can
just about sew on a button.
Grayson Perry will have a retrospective at the Stedelijk Musuem in Amsterdam
this spring, which will run from May 18 through August 2002. Perry’s work was
most recently exhibited at the Armory Show in New York and at the Saatchi
Gallery in London this past fall.
Image: GRAYSON PERRY, How I Thought of Myself
Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery
526 West 26TH Sreet, Room #213
NYC, NY, 10001
T 212.243.3335 F 212.243.1059