Grayson Perry & Power of Making

*Differences between Grayson Perry's work & Power of Making

 Grayson Perry and power of making are quite different points of art concepts. I can say Grayson Perry’s work is a kind of fine art. These days, fine art is an abstract work. Normally fine art places a large focus on creating a pure at base which means it can be a problem as you don’t even have to know about technique. For example, if I have ideas and understanding of a general fundamental concept, I can do fine art. Also, Grayson Perry said ‘Do not look too hard for meaning here. I am not a historian, I am an artist.  I think that within fine art the most important thing is me. This is because; normally artists are not bothered by other people’s opinions…because work is coming from my mind. However we can judge. We have different points of viewpoints and it depends on how you see that.

 On the other hand, if I have only ideas I could not create crafts. Craftsmen are those who make things skillfully with their hands. Craftsmen make three dimensional rather than two dimensional items.  However, craftsmen place a greater importance on how they manage their techniques. In my opinion, Grayson Perry work is not a very serious art work. His work is very enjoyable art work. However, power of making was somewhat calculating as in the Power of making exhibition, in one of the techniques one of the art works was made of knitting to make a bear. The Artist (Craftsmen) definitely needed to plan how they were going to create using knitting and reinterpretation. Craftsman who present at power of making exhibition that they made a percentage of the completion of theirs work technics. However, on the other hand, Grayson Perry is a deeply inventive art work.   These have something in common with making art works.

Reflective Statement

 *Brixton*

 When I go to a new place i usually get some strong impressions that I never forget. Some items from that visit stay in my mind. Those impressions never disappear when I go to the same place a second time. So during my research at Brixton Market exactly that happened. Therefore, I could find new interesting items, then what had thought about first impression of this place. That was my problem. The reason is that I had limited images of the place in my mind and during Unit one I felt confused on how to research the market as I wasn’t sure how to start. However, it became easier as through my visits I found items that drew my attention and I was naturally drawn to them. This made me think about them in a variety of different ways. However my items did not match or link in any special way. However I looked at it carefully and the most interesting aspect was that it was made of a variety lampshades stuck together, some were even stuck opposite to each other. It used many colours , different fabrics and shapes. The designs were all different. It reminded me of Asia because some of the lampshades looked like a Chinese red lantern shape. I thought those chandeliers were an incredibly good idea. In addition I felt that they were a good match to Brixton Village. During unit one i was not sure how to research.  I leant that research is just as important as the end result. Research helps my work become more interesting and developed.

Exoticism in design

 After postmodernism, oriental culture has had received wide interest from the west. Western culture is creating new trends since the 20^th Century.  These days, designers accept a wide variety of dress designs. Especially, in 1854, the Kimono was a decisive innovation in western culture.

Oriental style has been influenced by the culture and techniques of many countries including Egypt, turkey, Persian and India.

Trade between East and West

 What do we have to remember about the relationship between Britain and India with regards to textiles?

Without Indian textiles, the British textile industry would look very different. In fact, it probably wouldn’t even exist.  200years ago, the most fabulous textiles in the world came from India.

 For example, if i wanted to find cotton, I had to go to India at that time. Also, India had a very important printing process. It is called ‘Chintz’, which means spotted because it is form of printing in multicolour. The Europeans were really jealous of this print technic. It took them 200years to work out how to copy it. I found this very interesting. Following the lecture some questions sprung to my mind.

When visiting the London 'Liberty' department store and talking to people who work there they say that the fabric sold there is “British” but I have always felt differently as the fabrics came across as indicant in design and texture. However after my lecture I now know the history of the British Indian empire and that this style can perhaps legitimately be called “British”.

I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum after the lecture. I could see a direct impact on Indian fabrics. Most of all I could find embroidered fabrics Even the ones with an apparently new design carried the history and techniques of the past..

LOok but Don't touch

Grayson Perry

*The tomb of the unknown craftsman at British Museum*

Grayson Perry is a contemporary artist. I didn’t know who he was and was not familiar with his art works before I visited .

When I was arriving in front of exhibition, one of his installation works was displayed in front of the entrance. It was a lovely pink and sky blue colour. It was an eye-catching motorcycle. He traveled by  driving a motorcycle with his own teddy bear ‘Alan Measles’ in Germany in 2010.

He said ‘ Do not look too hard for meaning here. I am not a historian, I am an artist. That is all you need to know.’ I like his way of thinking.I felt I even knew a part of his personality. 

 when I looked at his art works. One of the art pieces I like is called “The Rosetta Vase, 2011”.
 Normally, when I think of ceramic like vase.it doesn’t interest me because ceramic is traditional and conservative art. However he looks at variety from various angles. He used vivid colours and painted interesting stories on the vase. It made it so attractive, interesting and it gave me an artistic kick which I would remember for some time.

Postmodernism