the Vanity

..of small differences

Grayson Perry (2012) - The Lincoln Museum (aka The Collection)

Outstanding exhibition from a favourite artist of mine.  It comprises 6 tapestries showing the life of Tim Rakewell from a working class home in Sunderland to a mansion in The Cotswolds. All the works were heavily influenced by specific early renaissance religious works and a William Hogarth.

Very complex pieces, with something new to see at every glance. Amazing.


1 (of 6) - The Adoration of the Cage Fighters (interpretation below)

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'The Adoration of the Cage Fighters' is the first tapestry. At the centre is Tim, a baby in the arms of his mother, like a modern interpretation of a Madonna and Child scene from Christian iconography. The scene is set in Tim’s great grandmother’s living room, decorated with old fashioned furnishings, furniture and wallpaper. Tim is trying to get his mother’s attention, reaching out for the smartphone that she’s preoccupied with. It seems like she is dressed up for a night out and her four friends on the right are waiting for her.
A pair of Mixed Martial Arts enthusiasts, the ‘cage fighters’, kneel before Tim and his mother and present icons of tribal identity to the infant: a football shirt and a miner’s lamp. Again, echoing the style of early Christian painting, Tim makes a second appearance, standing on the stairs as a four-year-old.
This scene echoes The Adoration of the Shepherds, a 15th century painting by the northern Italian Renaissance artist Andrea Mantegna.