Grayson Perry: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever!
Grayson Perry is one of Britain’s most celebrated artists. The Turner Prize winner is known for his sculpture, ceramics, tapestries and quilt-work, as well as his feminine alter-ego Claire.
His practice has long been concerned with what you might call the fabric of society. His current preoccupation with the way we consume art and the ways in which contemporary art can best address a diverse cross section of society is at the heart of his mantra.
And there is no escaping it in his newest body of work, opening at the Serpentine Galleries on election day.
With a desire to challenge “the same old comfortable ideas” which, in Perry's view, dominates British society and culture, we pick the works which are now more pertinent than ever.
The Kenilworth AM1 is Perry's bespoke Harley-Davidson, a performance-art prop created to transport Alan Measles (Perry's 50 year old teddy bear/muse/alter ego) on a pilgrimage to Germany.
The AM1 is decorated much like Perry's bubblegum-coloured trademark 'drag' outfits. The elongated pink-and-blue petrol tank is painted either side with the words 'humility' and 'patience', which Perry notes are the 'opposite of rocker lifestyle texts'.
Kenilworth AM1 is one of the more off-the-wall pieces in the exhibition as well as one of the best known. First exhibited at the British Museum in 2011 in Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman, it sure does provoke a smile and much needed light-relief, in an otherwise rather gloomy portrayl of society.