Announcing Major Exhibition by Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry

Announcing major Grayson Perry exhibition at the MCA

10 December 2015 – 1 May 2016

The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) has announced today that it will stage a major exhibition of works by Grayson Perry, one of Britain’s most acclaimed contemporary artists and winner of the 2003 Turner Prize. Presented as part of the 2015-2016 Sydney International Art Series, this Sydney-exclusive exhibition will be Perry’s first major survey in the Southern hemisphere.

With a keen eye for detail and a love of the popular and vernacular, Grayson Perry is known for his ceramics, sculptures, drawings, prints and tapestries. An astute chronicler of contemporary life, he infuses his artworks with a sly humour and reflection on society past and present. Various themes are explored through Perry’s multi-faceted practice including the history of taste and social class in Britain, religious and folk iconography, and representations of gender and sexuality.

Museum of Contemporary Art Director, Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE, said that: ‘Grayson Perry is one of best known British artists of his generation. With his strong commitment to audiences and his media presence, Grayson’s appeal extends beyond the art world. It is exciting to be welcoming him and his work to Sydney for the first time in the region.’

The artist’s highly decorated ceramic pots in particular reveal a panoply of imagery ranging from the highly personal to the political, their subjects including his own childhood and family, the art world, Biblical stories, the Royal family, and images of warfare and sexual fantasy. Embellished with photographic transfers, graffito drawing and text, they draw viewers in with their unique combination of pathos and wit.

Perry’s transvestism and feminine alter ego Claire – described by the artist as ‘a central plank of [his] creative drive’ – emerges through his practice as a recurring visual motif.

A contemporary of the YBA (Young British Artists) generation, he has forged a distinctive career that sits apart from the cooler theoretical approach of some of his peers, favouring a more flamboyant, accessible aesthetic that blurs the division of high art and popular culture.

Curated by MCA Chief Curator Rachel Kent, the exhibition will introduce the full spectrum of Grayson Perry’s practice from the late 1980s to the present.  It encompasses a diverse and comprehensive selection of the artist’s ceramic works, sculptures in iron and bronze, prints and drawings, and his ambitious, large-scale tapestries including the fifteen-metre Walthamstow Tapestry (2009) and the six-part tapestry cycle The Vanity of Small Differences (2012), created by Perry alongside his acclaimed Channel 4 television series In the Best Possible Taste. The exhibition is contextualised by a selection of photographs and costumes, as well as sketch books and video documentation.

Grayson Perry will be present for the opening events, delivering a keynote lecture to introduce his exhibition.

The Sydney International Art Series brings the world’s most outstanding exhibitions exclusively to Sydney, Australia. Created by the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW, the Sydney International Art Series is a signature event on the NSW Events Calendar.

Tickets on sale in winter 2015.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Grayson Perry held his first solo exhibition in Britain in 1984 and has exhibited his works internationally since the early 1990s. He was awarded the prestigious Turner Prize in 2003, and in 2011 combined his own works with historical artefacts from the British Museum collection in Grayson Perry: The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman. He has made numerous television appearances, hosting his own Channel 4 series In the Best Possible Taste – Grayson Perry in 2012, then Grayson Perry: Who Are You? in late 2014, along with his solo exhibition on the theme of portraiture and British identity at the National Portrait Gallery, London. In 2013 he delivered The Reith Lectures, BBC Radio 4’s annual flagship talk series by leading international thinkers, to widespread critical acclaim.

Follow Grayson Perry on Twitter: @alan_measles