BBC – BBC Radio 4 Programmes – Start the Week, Grayson Perry at the Charleston Festival
Grayson Perry explores changing social attitudes in relation to taste: the choices people make in the things they buy and wear, and uses these details of modern life to create six tapestries, called ‘The Vanity of Small Differences’.
Three of my favourite works from House of Beasts at Attingham Park – Refuge, Insecticide 17 and Swan. The show is on until 14th July.
Tucked away in the housekeeper’s room is Nina Saunders’s work called Refuge. One sees the head of a fox snuggled into the folds of a distorted armchair. The following extract is taken from the accompanying booklet to the exhibition produced by Meadow Arts and The National Trust. (For more information go and see the exhibition itself!)
“Nina Saunders is known for stretching and contorting traditional pieces of furniture in which she integrates animals of the type that populate children’s literature, folk tales and our collective unconscious………..In contrast to the grand rooms upstairs, the housekeeper’s room is cosy and full of heart-warming pictures of animals. This represents a gentle and domestic relation to pets and farm animals, which is yet another form of idealisation”
Mat Collishaw’s Insecticide 17 is a gigantic photograph of a squashed insect is resplendent above a fireplace in a grand room, a place “usually reserved for portraits of the notable and powerful. An infinite number of parasites and insects can be found in our homes. The artist has captured the moment of their death with a sense of tragedy and violence contrasting with our habitual indifference towards the death of an insect. These same small creatures can cause enormous damage and are a constant preoccupation for the conservation teams of the National Trust. Their fight against this invisible enemy is illustrated here on the grandest of scales.”
Daphne Wright’s Swan is a cast taken from a young male who died in a swan sanctuary. Facing the river where a couple of live swans regularly nest, year after year, where the offspring are involved in a touch and go, life and death struggle.
Wright’s background and interest in memorialising animal death is discussed on a You Tube video on this piece.
Daphne Wright’s Swan at House of Beasts – YouTube
A Sundial in Moonlight by Sophie Molins
Peter Emery | Director of Photography, London
Had to search for this amazing video after a visit to Attingham Park’s HOUSE OF BEASTS show. (On until mid July, and a real treat for art lovers. If you like “site specific” then go no further!)
And this isn’t the only breathtaking work there. If you are going, set aside at least half a day to take in all the other works. I shall be posting photos of some on a subsequent blog later today.
Chris Gilmour sculpts objects from cardboard.Chris Gilmour – cardboard art – Artist sculpts life-size cars and bikes from cardboard – MSN Cars UK
What the pieces lack in originality they appear to 
make up for in their fine detail.
Just a glimpse of some of the magic works on display at Glyndwr North Wales School of Art Degree Show – Elizabeth Anne Spence stunning drawings, Dorothy Harrisons “drawings to die for” and Sarah Hart’s amazing installation using crockery linking with the work of Cornelia Parker.
Will post some more on another blog post later…….
Inside Out Artist:Grayson Perry begins his investigation of British taste in Sunderland, a city with strong working-class traditions. Originally from a working-class background himself, Perry is interested in how our family background and the class journey we take shape the way we define ourselves through what we wear and buy, and how we live.
Perry discovers a culture of flamboyant display in Sunderland, as well as some surprising ‘ancestral echoes’ of his own upbringing. He also confronts head-on the snobbery that surrounds many people’s view of working-class taste.
Finally, Perry invites all the people he meets in Sunderland down to London for an unveiling of the artwork inspired by his experiences in their city, prompting a fascinating debate about what he has chosen to reflect back to them about their taste.
It has come to my notice that a certain member of the Inside Out Art group is now walking about heavily disguised. Now this could be a new art form but…….
If you know this man, please let us know!
This lovely shop – Rowanthorn in Beatrice Street Oswestry – is an Aladin’s cave of wonderful ethnic goods – fabulous summer dresses, jackets, handbags, scarves etc Mike at Rownathorn also provides wall space for artists to display their work. Today Diana and Rob went along to add some small works to the overhead beam and to the wall at the back of the shop. Also on display there are works by Maddy Vale and Allanah Piesse.
