Islington artist Sir Grayson Perry exhibits his 'Posh Cloths' at Victoria Miro this spring.
The Turner Prizewinner, who was knighted in the New Year honours list, shows textiles and tapestries made during the past eight years at the gallery in Wharf Road, Islington.
Currently presenting Grayson Perry's Full English on Channel 4, he has a home and studio in the borough, and uses textiles to examine themes in contemporary British life - from politics and consumerism to history.
While tapestries are traditionally associated with grand houses, depicting classical myths, religious scenes and epic battles, Perry plays with the ancient artform. For Morris, Gainsborough, Turner, Riley, 2021, combines imagery from British art history referencing and digitally altering works by William Morris, Thomas Gainsborough, JMW Turner and Bridget Riley within richly layered textures.
In Battle of Britain, 2017, Perry recalls the landscape of his native Essex. He realised while making it that it also reminded him of Paul Nash's Battle of Britain, 1941 - one of his favourite paintings - and explains: "Having yet again acknowledged the power of the unconscious I continued with the work, playing up the associations and weaving in references to the current conflicts within our society."
The tapestry Large Expensive Abstract Painting, 2019 features a map of London with the familiar serpentine of the Thames. It contains words that appear to chime with social forces, tastes and certain locations. A companion piece, Very Large Very Expensive Abstract Painting, 2020, includes a map of Manhattan and a Jackson Pollock-style work within its imagery.
Perry writes: "If I think of American cultural power, the image that pops into my head is a huge Abstract Expressionist painting, a Cold War symbol of a self-confident land of the free. This tapestry is made up of layers that reflect some of the cultural and social archaeology of Manhattan."
Earlier works on show include two tapestries made for A House for Essex, designed by Perry in collaboration with FAT Architecture in 2015 to evoke a wayside pilgrimage chapel which, instead of a patron saint, is dedicated to the life of the fictional Julie Cope.
Completed in the style of Renaissance religious paintings, the main characters are shown several times in vignettes depicting key moments in Cope’s life.
Grayson Perry Posh Cloths runs February 3 until March 25 at Victoria Miro, 16, Wharf Road, N1. https://www.victoria-miro.com/
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