'Craft' is a dirty word in the art world, but since winning the Turner Prize in 2003, Grayson Perry has challenged our perceptions of the 'p' word (pottery) and invites us into the womb of his body of work made out of the 't' word (textiles).
The Walthamstow Tapestry is a Bayeux-esque document of modern life and all the paraphernalia that comes with it. A truly British middle-class Madonna figure craddles her it-bag that takes centre stage in the work, while stereotypical characters of a tragic cool Britannia and the words of corporate brands they so crave surround her along this landscape of life. I appreciate the work and believe craft is almost exotic in its rarity as well as its execution but I can't help to think whether Perry is now ticking off a Women's Institute check list of accomplishments. His mediums may be exotic now, however the platform that his work now rests is global and will, I hope, accept a lot of talented outsider art into a mainstream critical arena.
The Walthamstow Tapestry is a Bayeux-esque document of modern life and all the paraphernalia that comes with it. A truly British middle-class Madonna figure craddles her it-bag that takes centre stage in the work, while stereotypical characters of a tragic cool Britannia and the words of corporate brands they so crave surround her along this landscape of life. I appreciate the work and believe craft is almost exotic in its rarity as well as its execution but I can't help to think whether Perry is now ticking off a Women's Institute check list of accomplishments. His mediums may be exotic now, however the platform that his work now rests is global and will, I hope, accept a lot of talented outsider art into a mainstream critical arena.
The show at Victoria Miro has now closed and I'm sure The Walthamstow Tapestry will find a home ironically in one of the banks whose names are stitched across the weft. Equally ironic is the one word missing on the tapestry: a product that is as familiar on the pages of Art Review as it is in The Sun... Perry.
