Welcome To Grayson Perry: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! Open until Christmas Eve, 1pm 11am to 6pm Tuesday to Sunday
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Introduction Welcome to Grayson Perry’s exhibition of new artworks, organised by the Serpentine Galleries in London, and showing here in Bristol for the first time outside the capital. The exhibition extends across all three floors of Arnolfini, including the chance to view the artist’s recently broadcast films and to delve deeper into the ideas behind the exhibition on the second floor. Born in Chelmsford, Essex in 1960, Grayson Perry is a chronicler of contemporary life. This exhibition of tapestries, woodcut prints, bronze sculptures and ceramic works will lead you through the artist’s most recent explorations of masculinity, national identity and populism. You’ll discover autobiographical references throughout the exhibition – the artist’s childhood, his family and his transvestite alter ego Claire – as well as familiar contemporary figures through which Perry investigates how our identities are shaped and how our values are built. Art can be intellectually stretching, significant, moving and fun at the same time, the artist suggests. People, on the whole, come to art exhibitions on their day off. They do not want to feel that they are just doing their homework. Maybe it’s time to take the sting out of the word popular. When I came up with this title – The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! – I liked it because it chimed with one of my ongoing ambitions – to widen the audience for art without dumbing it down. Mainly I liked it because it made me giggle, but popularity is a serious business. Ask any politician.1
1. Grayson Perry, The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! (London: Penguin, 2017) 2. Grayson Perry, The Descent of Man (London: Penguin, 2017) 3. Grayson Perry, Grayson Perry on Brexit and the Future of Art (Hannah Tindle, anothermag.com, 8 June, 2017) 4. Grayson Perry, Playing to the Gallery (London: Penguin, 2016)
Ground Floor What makes a man? I am riding my mountain bike through the forest up a long steep track. Halfway up I see a young boy, maybe nine or ten years old. He is struggling; this track is a tough challenge for anyone not used to mountain biking, let alone a kid on a new bicycle. He can’t work the gears, and wobbles and grinds to a halt. Tears run down his face. ‘Dad, Dad!’ he yells, sobbing. He is crying for help, but he is also in a boiling rage. I offer to help him, but he is so angry, so ashamed, that he doesn’t acknowledge me. As I pedal past up the hill, I see the father in the distance. He is standing silently next to his mountain bike, arms folded across his chest, staring at his son two hundred metres down the hill. He also looks angry. I have seen that father’s face on a thousand football touchlines, outside a thousand school gates. It’s a face that says, ‘Toughen up, don’t whine, be a man!’ It’s the face of someone who hands down the rage and pain of what it is to be a man… We need to examine masculinity, not just to prevent small boys from crying with rage at their impassive fathers on a mountain-bike ride, but to change the whole world for the better. 2 Kenilworth AM1 is a custom-made motorbike, similar to a HarleyDavidson, and has a shrine for Perry’s teddy bear – Alan Measles – on the back. The bike was the mode of transport for Perry’s road trip from Chelmsford to Bavaria in Germany and represents, along with the other works in this gallery, the artist’s ongoing exploration of symbols of masculinity. You can listen to the story of the artist’s trip on BBC iPlayer Radio – search for Grayson on his Bike.
First Floor Maybe it is a bit utopian to say: ‘We are in this together! We all have a shared identity!’ But often, what starts off as a utopian vision turns into common sense and then it becomes normalised.3 Over the past decade, Perry has explored what it means to be British, and how we think of ourselves in relation to national identity. Over the past year, this has been thrown into particularly stark relief due to the outcome of the UK’s EU Referendum. A Channel 4 documentary, Grayson Perry: Divided Britain, followed the artist as he created a new work in response to the impact of Brexit. Harnessing social media, Perry invited the British public to contribute ideas, images and phrases to cover the surface of two new pots: one for the Brexiteers and one for the Remainers. He also visited the most proBrexit and pro-Remain parts of the country for the programme (available to watch in the Dark Studio on the second floor). Museums need visitor numbers, as visitor numbers are in a way another empirical measure of quality, and a well-known and popular name [increases] quality.4 Discussing the impact of visitor figures and the role of the artist in the contemporary world Visitor Figures and Reclining Artist invite you to learn more about Perry’s consideration of popularity.
Second Floor The second floor gives the opportunity to delve deeper into the context for the exhibition and to have an intimate encounter with Digmoor Tapestry and King of Nowhere. In Gallery 5, which overlooks Bristol’s city centre, you will find Digmoor Tapestry and King of Nowhere - a tapestry and a sculpture which have been made as part of Perry’s TV series All Man. Perry’s Divided Britain and All Man programmes are screened in the Dark Studio (courtesy of Channel 4), providing an insight into the artist’s role as an investigator of contemporary Britain.
Public Programme 12 October, 7-9pm Come the Revolution present: (wo)man in me (£5) Film screening, Talk 17 October, 7-8.30pm Martin Parr in conversation with Sunil Shah (£8) Talk 24 October, 7-8.30pm Grayson Perry (£20) Talk 27 October, 7pm-1am Late: Beacons, Icons and Dykons present: Angora Nights (£5) Film screening, Performance, Music 9 November, 7-9pm Headlong & The Guardian present: Brexit Shorts (£6) Film screening, Talk 10 November, 7pm-1am – Late: Debunk with Libita Clayton, Jeanie Sinclair and Clawson & Ward (£5) Performance, Music 16 November, 7-8.30pm Nikesh Shukla in conversation (£5) Talk 30 November, 7-8.30pm Josie Long and Joff Winterhart (£8) Talk 1 December, 8pm-2am Late: Thorny with Lone Taxidermist (£8) Performance, Music 8 December, 7-9pm Biggerhouse films present ‘different voices’ (free) Film screening, Talk
Exhibition Tours Join us every Saturday at midday for a tour of the exhibition led by Arnolfini staff, guest artists and volunteers.
Family Events 30 September, 1-4pm We Are Family drop-in workshop (free) 28 October, 1-4pm Family Arts Festival finale event (free) 14 November, 10.30-11.30am Drag Queen Story Time (free, but booking required) 20 November, 2.30-3.30pm Drag Queen Story Time @ Junction 3 Library (free) 25 November, 1-4pm We Are Family drop-in workshop @ Hillfields Library (free)
Bring Your Baby Tours 19 October, 11-12pm 28 November, 11-12pm Exhibition tours designed for parents and carers to explore the exhibition in an environment that welcomes babies (£3).
Relaxed Viewings On the final Sunday of each month, there will be a relaxed opening (from 10am-11am). During this time, numbers of visitors will be limited to create a suitable experience for neurodiverse audiences.
Writer-In-Residence Nikesh Shukla, author of Coconut Unlimited and editor of The Good Immigrant, is writer-in-residence during Grayson Perry’s exhibition. Check out our website for details of Nikesh’s event and new writing during the show.
Book tickets in advance to avoid disappointment in person at our box office, at www.arnolfini.org.uk or call 0117 917 2300.
Imagine New Rules – message from our new director
Arnolfini has been a place of imagination and bold new ideas since 1961. This centre for contemporary arts has created and embraced change over five decades and now it’s time to do so once again. New types of arts organisation are already emerging across the country responding to the interests and needs of artists and audiences in more relevant ways. And so, over the coming months we will be reimagining Arnolfini for the future. We want to rip up the rulebook which says arts centres have to look or feel a certain way. Up on the second floor, you can explore our first thoughts and contribute your own. Throughout the autumn season, artists, musicians, performers and writers will be contributing their rules for a new centre of contemporary arts and you can follow some of our conversations in a regular podcast online. Claire Doherty #newrules
Arnolfini Bookshop Take home a limited edition or souvenir from the exhibition today. Fully illustrated catalogue (£16.99) Special limited edition skateboard (Kateboard, £150)
#GRAYSONPERRY
Share your thoughts about the exhibition #GraysonPerry Follow @ArnolfiniArts on Instagram and Twitter, where we’ll be reposting our favourites.
Please Donate Today As a charity, Arnolfini fundraises for all its activities. By donating today, you can help us continue to provide free arts activities and to build our future. Suggested donation £5. Grayson Perry: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! 27 September – 24 December 2017 An exhibition initiated and organised by the Serpentine Galleries, London Special thanks to Victoria Miro, London Supported by:
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Image overleaf: Grayson Perry, Sketch for Visitor Figures, 2014-2015 Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro, London © Grayson Perry