peta LiLY PHOTOGRAPHY
  • about & gallery
  • blog
  • urban images film
  • NEWS
  • Contact

Grayson Perry

11/11/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
strongbow
Love him. And I am not alone. At the National Portrait Gallery on Grayson Perry's 'Who are You?' treasure trail which is cleverly designed to thread through the collection of 20th century portraits, we pored together, we nodded and exclaimed together at the artist's humanity wit, self-deprecation, fresh mindedness, stunning craftsmanship and more. The work drew people forward and in and we strangers were drawn to speak with each other with immediacy and informality.  By the  Memory Jar my friend and I we spoke with a young artist - I look forward to seeing his work in the future.

So many reasons to love Perry but let me talk for a moment just about words and images. The way he incorporates brand names and logos - corporate images and names which are part of the inescapable fabric of city life. He also mixes narrative and conceptual words with images drawn, woven and fired onto clay. We gaze at beautiful and beautifully made objects, eagerly hunting out the content emblazoned / hidden on or in them, then are freshly shocked as the eye switches focus to the astonishing patinas of texture and colour. So much diversity - in many senses of the word - in the 14 works on show. And only on show until the 15th November. Go see.

Favourite quote - associated with the Huhne Vase which Perry made and broke and mended, hoping to give the message that 'vulnerability might be an asset'.

Today's photograph is one I almost didn't take - yes, running late and yes, judging ('trite') but I reminded myself of my rule.

It stands here in this post to honour words and image combined. It stands here also in honour of the long boring slices of my childhood when forced to wait in stark, prosaic surroundings.  I would stare at whatever was there. In desperation for engagement I recall how the stark numbers on an unillustrated calendar seemed to take on value as characters - the elegant 7, the bullish, thuggish 9, the 3 with it's unruly and slightly méchant air, the lone soldier 1.  And how a splash of petrol on a service station forecourt made dark rainbows like a dirty version of the inside of sea shells. I think about a reflex escape into the imagination, an unconscious hunt for beauty and story. And from where I am now, a simple validation of disappointment and resilience: these things are here - they exist.
1 Comment
Carol link
18/11/2014 09:55:52 am

He had an exhibition at Luxembourg's Mudam a few years ago - really interesting stuff. He's one talented guy!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Performer and theatremaker Peta Lily  has been taking photographs for the last five years. Her aesthetic has been to use her iPhone camera to capture the world close up and with an immediacy that is both surprising and moving.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    10 More Creative Camera Tips
    Abstract
    Anthropomorphism
    Arnold Mindell
    Beauty
    Belief In The Mission
    Breath
    Cameraphone Tips
    Cartier-Bresson
    Change
    Clowns
    Colour
    Comedy
    Composition
    Content & Shape
    Creative Camera Practice
    Creativity
    Despite Limitations
    Detail
    Emotion
    Familiar & Unfamiliar
    Flirts
    Framing
    Genius
    Gerhard Richter
    Hamlet
    Having A Practice
    Hypstamatic
    Imperfection
    Incorrigibly Kaleidoscopic
    Instagram
    Intuition
    IPhone
    IPhone 4
    IPhone 6
    Jacques Tati
    John Cage
    Kitsch
    Light
    Light Writing
    Logic
    Loving Imperfection
    Magic
    Memes
    Miracles
    Montage
    Mystery
    Night Photography
    Obsession & Happiness
    Overlay
    Paul Strand
    Performance
    Persistence
    Poetry
    Reflection
    Remix
    Repetition
    Short Film
    Small Red Skull
    Soundscape
    Street Wisdom
    The Indecisive Moment
    Themes
    Variation

Picture

​
FREE

'Creative Cameraphone' - a fun little ebook: 50 tips & 15 guidelines to enjoy your cameraphone more.
Just fill the form on the right to join the mailing list & get your free copy.



‘Fantastic - made me want to run outside with my camera.’ - Cecile Besrest-Butler

    contact - BUY WORKS OR HEAR ABOUT COMING EVENTS
    & get your free ebook!

Submit
see images almost daily on Facebook
and follow petalily on instagram
Picture