Yesterday friend M. and I travelled south by train to Maastricht, so we could one: meet up with my parents and two: the four of us could see the Grayson Perry exhibition in the Bonnefanten museum. It is one of those rare museum visits where you walk around with a huge smile on your face (the colours! the stories! the joy! the abundance!) whilst at the same time being gut-wrenchingly blown away by the scale of the pieces; not just because of the size and quality (for what is skill without the creator's heart) but more importantly the emotional and intellectual depth displayed in each and every piece; the beholder's eye can keep on travelling over the tapstries, sculptures, vases, etchings, drawings and never be able to take it all in as there are so many narratives, demonstrated in the intricate details and expressed in his own words in f.e. the documentary about the coming about of 'A House for Essex' in Wrabness Essex, Perry's home county.
He is a colourful character, to put it mildly, married & two children, of which there is no evidence as far as I could tell in the pieces; he's also a performer I would say, as he also likes to wear girlie clothes, outfits he designs himself or young art college students design for him; some of the creations so outrageously other the top Alice-in-Wonderland, even I as a yound girl would have been reluctant to wear them. However, he carries it off with such casualness it feels oddly ordinary.
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| he cruised through Germany with his teddy bear Alan Measles on this motor bike, with matching attire |
I'm afraid I forgot to take pictures of all the titles and of the pieces in their entirety, such was the overwhelming experience. I did remember to take this picture of his own words right at the beginning of the exhibit:
below details from 'The Walthamstow Tapestry' 2009 wool, cotton, polyester, acrylic, silk
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| 'Our Father'2007, cast iron, oil paint, string |
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| 'Map of Nowhere' 2008, etching from five plates; I love how doubt is at the very centre, as that is a feeling every artist, and I suppose every human being, feels every now and then! |
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| book plus blurb |
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| a bit of his art on our kitchen window sill |
Comments
I just wish he had his tapestries made in the UK instead of abroad.
Love your new header.
what is most appealing, to me at least, is his humanity, his ability to connect with people, it's effect on me being more capable of accepting who I am; as far as I know he makes the vases, everything clay-related and the etchings himself, plus he does a lot (a lot) of drawing; he has designed the tapestries and the weaving is done by someone else.