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Artworks
Grayson Perry United Kingdom, b. 1960
Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close , 2012Wool, cotton, acrylic, polyester and silk tapestry200 x 400 cm (78 1/2 x 157 1/2 in)Edition 6 of 6, plus 2 APsKnown for straddling high and low culture, Grayson Perry (b.1960) is renowned for his ceramics and public appearances cross-dressing as his alter ego, Claire. His elegant pots and vases take...Known for straddling high and low culture, Grayson Perry (b.1960) is renowned for his ceramics and public appearances cross-dressing as his alter ego, Claire. His elegant pots and vases take the form of classical pottery yet are decorated with incongruously sexual or violent motifs and cutting social commentary. In recent years, the Turner Prize-winning artist has designed large-scale tapestries on contemporary themes with The Vanity of Small Differences (2012) among his most ambitious. The six-part work was conceived while Perry was filming a Channel 4 television programme exploring taste and class divisions across British society. Inspired by William Hogarth’s satirical series A Rake’s Progress (1732–33), the colourful tapestries are a wryly observed exploration of class mobility that tell the story of fictional character Tim Rakewell as he climbs the social ladder, from humble working class beginnings to making his fortune in computer software.
The fourth tapestry, Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close, illustrates the moment at which Tim and his girlfriend flee his parents’ home after an argument. Passing through a rainbow, they are welcomed into a bourgeois north London dinner party. As with the other tapestries in the series, the composition pays homage to a work of Christian religious art, in this instance Masaccio’s Expulsion from the Garden of Eden (c.1425) – the implication being that, like Adam and Eve, the young couple are guilty of a sin.
The final tapestry in the cycle is #Lamentation, which shows the aftermath of a car crash. Tim lies dead, held by a passerby and paramedic as his glamorous wife stands at a distance. The image, which reinforces the moral message that wealth and status do not guarantee happiness, echoes Rogier van der Weyden’s Lamentation of Christ (c.1460), an altarpiece depicting the Virgin Mary kneeling by her dead son.
Provenance
Victoria Miro, London
Private Collection, acquired from the above in 2012
Exhibitions
Other editions have been included in the below exhibitions:
London, Victoria Miro, Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences, June – August 2012 (another from the edition exhibited).
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition, June – August 2013 (another from the edition exhibited).
Sunderland, Sunderland Museum, Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences, 2013-2018,(another from the edition exhibited). This exhibition later travelled to Manchester, Manchester Art Gallery; Birmingham, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery; Leeds, Temple Newsam House; Istanbul, Pera Museum; Ankara, Cer Modern; Bath, Victoria Art Gallery; Coventry, Herbert Art Gallery; Worcester, Croome; Canterbury, The Beaney; Kyiv, Izolyatsia Platform for Cultural Initiatives; Novi Sad, Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina; Pristina, National Gallery; Sarajevo, Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Banja Luka, Museum of Contemporary Art of Republic of Srpska and Tirana, National Gallery.
Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Grayson Perry: My Pretty Little Art Career, December 2015 – May 2016, pp. 182 and 238 (another from the edition exhibited; illustrated in colour, p. 182; detail illustrated in colour, pp. 4 and 238; installation view at Victoria Miro illustrated in colour, p. 188).
Maastricht, Bonnefanten, Grayson Perry - Hold your beliefs lightly, February – June 2016. This exhibition later travelled to Aarhus, ARoS Kunstmuseum (June – September 2016)
Newlyn, Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange, Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences, October 2020 - June 2022 (another from the edition exhibited). This exhibition later travelled to Norwich, East Gallery, Norwich University of the Arts; Rochdale, Touchstones; Hereford, Hereford Museum and Gallery; Kilmarnock, Dick Institute and Sunderland, Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens.
Rotherham, Wentworth Woodhouse, Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences, June – September 2023.
