In the Best Possible Taste: Grayson Perry
Grayson Perry has recently embarked on a mission to explore British taste across society. The first episode, shown this week, followed Perry in Sunderland. Perry explained that he has always been fascinated by taste and he wanted to discover the choices behind what we buy and wear. I am similarly intrigued by why and what we choose to surround ourselves in. One of the main features of Sunderland taste that Perry observed was the popularity of tattoos. This was explored in an interesting interview with a tattoo artist and customer. They explained that people are more willing to spend money on decorating themselves with 'art' than they are buying it for their houses. The main reason fell on the idea that more people see you outside than they do inside your house. This highlighted the importance of public display and construction of our social identities through material possessions. Perry subsequently asked whether their tattoos were a que to talk about different aspects of their personality, to which the customer responded 'I think so yeah...I enjoy telling people about the meaning'. I found this whole discussion very interesting as jewellery is also a common element of our social identities and reveals a lot about taste. Perry's journey culminates in the production of six panoramic tapestries that illustrate his interpretation of C21st taste in Britain. These tapestries are soon to be displayed at the Victoria Miro museum http://www.victoria-miro.com/exhibitions/_429/.
Grayson Perry has recently embarked on a mission to explore British taste across society. The first episode, shown this week, followed Perry in Sunderland. Perry explained that he has always been fascinated by taste and he wanted to discover the choices behind what we buy and wear. I am similarly intrigued by why and what we choose to surround ourselves in. One of the main features of Sunderland taste that Perry observed was the popularity of tattoos. This was explored in an interesting interview with a tattoo artist and customer. They explained that people are more willing to spend money on decorating themselves with 'art' than they are buying it for their houses. The main reason fell on the idea that more people see you outside than they do inside your house. This highlighted the importance of public display and construction of our social identities through material possessions. Perry subsequently asked whether their tattoos were a que to talk about different aspects of their personality, to which the customer responded 'I think so yeah...I enjoy telling people about the meaning'. I found this whole discussion very interesting as jewellery is also a common element of our social identities and reveals a lot about taste. Perry's journey culminates in the production of six panoramic tapestries that illustrate his interpretation of C21st taste in Britain. These tapestries are soon to be displayed at the Victoria Miro museum http://www.victoria-miro.com/exhibitions/_429/.
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