GRAYSON PERRY the tomb of the unknown crafts

I have finally been to the Grayson Perry exhibition, after trying to go for a while now I finally got up and went. I was expecting a lot from this exhibition, my expections were high from hearing other peolpes reviews of it and its not what I expected. I enjoyed the exhibition, it was collated very well, the objects and drawings he had put in which relate to his Exhibition 'The Tomb of the Unknown Crafts' linked very well and I thought it was very clever but I felt there was something missing, I couldnt tell you what.

I loved the fact that his exhibtion felt like a journey, you started off by being introduced to Perry and Alan Measles his 50 year old bear, and they were off around Germany as measles, I think I cant really remember once had a war between germany in his head and it put a bad name for the country in his head and Perry wanted to fix this. I thought this was fantastic. Measles was named by the fact that Perry had measles at the time and his best friend at the time was called Alan. Simple but great.

A lot of the exhibtion was based around Measles and Perrys love for him. There was a glazed ceramic shrine, 2007, which was for Measles, it was a little hut with beams that had the bear craved into, a little cooking pot, what looked like it could be a little bath for Measles and a picture of Princess Diana so it was almost like a shrine to her as well maybe?

A piece I liked was called 'Hold your beliefs', 2011, and it was a textiles piece with computerised emboridery on cotton and silk. It had Measles in the centre and he was the guru of dobt and he was doling out good advice. Measles was in the centre arms outwide welcoming thoughts and worrys, with people either side of him one in a wheelchair others juts looking. This I found endearing as to me it feels like Perry feels this bear has talent and can pass that on to others. I like this piece for the colours as well as what message to me it gives.  I have taken a photo of the postcard I bought of this piece and its below.

Another little shrine I liked was a piece Perry made called 'La Tour de Claire', 1983, which was a model made from flints, pebbles and pieces he found on the beach. He said it reminded him that he can make art from hardly any money and at the kitchen table. This piece was very raw and I thought it was fasincating. The little tower that looked like it could topple over, but made with so much detail and precision it was brilliant. The piece next to this was another little shrine 'Shrine to Alan and Claire', 2011, and inside was a little Alan and Claire. It was a gold piece on the outside and inside it looked like a ceremony was going on. Alan always seems to have his penis out which makes me think Perry likes to think of him having a sex life.

There was a piece of writting on the wall which said 'If you like the idea of a portable shrine look at your photo album on your phone'. This is true, everyone take photos of what they like, what they do, peolpe they see, so its a little shrine with you 100% of the time.

A strange piece in this exhibtion was a little ceramic coffin containing artists ponytail, 1985. It was a beautiful little coffin, ceramic with a glaze, and his ponytail sitting inside which was the strange part. But I suppose if he wanted to be included in the exhibiton literally then I guess he was, by his own grown hair sitting in a little coffin.

'The Frivalous now', 2011, was a ceramic pot he made, and the night before he decorated it he was watching television and he took words he heard on the TV and decorated the pot with these. I really like the pot, it was one of my favourite pieces in the exhibtion. A nice blue and light coarl colour I believe like words like, botox, tagging, obese teen, Take That. The use of words and imagery on this pot are like my drawings I did for the print rotation, very graphic like and placed carefully on the piece with thought and care.

You turn the corner and there is a huge tapestry on the wall called 'Map of Truths and beliefs', 2011, which is a map of the British Museum. This piece is so well filled with deatil and imformation in the colour choices, the way everything is places and thought about. My drawings I did for the Print block in the first week are like this with the graphic feel to them. The eye in the middle of this piece feels like Big Brother is watching you, everything you do. There is so much detail here, the women dressed in black represents the contemporary world, the bear is raw emotion, the boy represents innocent logic and the women in folk dress is tradition. So it does have meaning its not just a piece with imagery its quite a deep message. My favourite bit is the helicopters and chinooks at the top, but I like chinooks with two blades my mind boggles! Below is a photo I have taken of a postcard I bought of this tapestery.

Another ceramic pot this one bright in colour, orange, is called 'Grumpy old God', 2010 and it shows Measles is unimpressed by the 21st Century as he sees facebook as a distraction for this centurys generation as they are obessesd with phones and with celebritys on twitter. Its shows we arent concentrating on life as a bigger part we are all shallow and small minded. I like this piece as it has a poster on the side for egg and chips and fish and chips.

This exhibtion was worth going to for all the imformation Perry's provided in it, it was fascinatating. He is a very diverse artist with many skills and talents for the art. I enjoyed the exhibtion and seeing his work, as I didnt know much about him before hand. A very good exhibtion and I would recommend peolpe go and see it before it ends.