A couple of months ago, I was in Australia and visited a couple museums but I wanted to spread out the posts for you a bit- so finally I would like to take you on an art stroll through Grayson Perry’s exhibition at MAC in Sydney.
“Grayson Perry is one of the best known British artists of his generation, acclaimed for his ceramics, sculptures, drawings, prints and tapestries. With a keen eye for detail and a love of the popular and vernacular, Perry infuses his artworks with a sly humour and reflection on society past and present.” (MCA)
I love how Grayson Perry celebrates craft and wants to get rid of the idea of high art and low art.
In this ceramic he combines heraldic images with important names and dealers in the art world.
For Perry Art and Craft are very firmly linked.
X92, 1999
Woman of Ideas 1990, glazed ceramic
Britain is Best, 2014 – hand embroidery, silk, glass beads, sequins, cotton thread.
Insanely amazing and again – a message on a wall tapestry.
Comfort Blanket 2014- tapestry
Map of Truths and Beliefs 2011 – acrylic wool and cotton tapestry
As you can see the scale of the work was massive!
Perry says “It is not about being perfect, it is about a give and take between the maker and the material, and the imagery they are using. It is a conversation. Often the most interesting thing happens, is when you allow the material to fight back.” This really speaks to me!
Part of the exhibition was also a great range of Perry’s sketchbooks. He says that drawing in his sketchbook is an almost daily activity and when he puts an idea down he takes it very seriously. No idea is wasted and there will come a point when he will make a work from the drawing. He has a backlog of categories of objects he wants to make.
I loved seeing his sketchbook above and then the actual tapestry that came out of it!
This was truly a treat – I hope some day Perry makes it to the U.S. as I could have spent hours at the exhibition looking at the messages, the imagery – the connection of craft and art. His artwork is inspiring and amazing and his thoughts on society, art and craft are very interesting and appealing to me.
And on this note ….one last goof ball pic from Australia :)
I hope you enjoyed this art stroll!
Comments (3)
Joi@RR
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Heheheh – you two gals ALWAYS make me giggle when you are together!!! This was so interesting to see Nat. Amazing creative thinking – wow. Just kept looking and looking!! Thanks bunches for such great photos and post. Xj.
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Sue Clarke
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Love the tapestries! Especially fun to see the leap from the page to the wall. I enjoyed this stroll.
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Kim
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One of my favorite Art Strolls – such a thought-provoking artist! I’m with you – I would love to see more of his work and to really spend time taking it all in. Seems like he also has a sense of humor :) Thank you for sharing both the imagery and some of the big themes behind the work!
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