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’.

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 man overwhelmed by mood is a sundial in moonlight telling the wrong time”

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.

What the pieces lack in originality they appear to make up for in their fine detail.

Will post some  more on another blog post later…….

If you know this man, please let us know!