Print for a Politician

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, 100 Parliament Street

At two-and-a-half metres long, 'Print for a Politician' is a large engraving that unfolds before our eyes. It presents an imaginary land divided into zones populated by forests, rocks and twisted spires. Tiny, spidery handwriting reveals labelled faux demographic groups from 'agnostics' and 'provincials', to 'homosexuals' and 'Scientologists'. Grayson Perry is interested in the superficial labels that we and the media at large apply to each other. Underpinning the artificiality of the labels, Perry does not want us to read too much significance into where and how he has placed them. He revealed that while working on ‘Print for a Politician’ he ‘...harboured a fantasy of it hanging in a minister's office, helping him to temper any prejudices he may have'. A modern take on political satire, the print was partly inspired by the ‘Mappa Mundi’, the famous English medieval map that reveals a 13th-century interpretation of the world in spiritual and geographical terms.

Grayson Perry was born in Chelmsford, Essex. He completed a foundation course at Braintree College of Further Education, followed by a BA in Fine Art at Portsmouth Polytechnic. In 2003 he won the Turner Prize and famously collected the award dressed as his alter-ego Claire. Perry works across a range of media but is best known for his ceramic works which explore challenging, psychological themes as broad-ranging as child abuse, mental illness and masculine stereotyping. Perry has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in the UK and abroad. Since winning the Turner Prize in 2003, which he famously collected dressed as Claire, he has arguably become one of Britain’s most widely known artists whose work and commentary on contemporary culture regularly features in the media. Dressed as Claire, Perry received a Royal Academy Award from the Queen in 2016, in recognition of his contribution to British art. Media projects include Grayson Perry’s Dream House (2015) and Grayson Perry: All Man (2016) for Channel 4 Television; and The Reith Lectures for BBC Radio 4 (2013). Solo shows include Hold Your Beliefs Lightly, in Maastricht, and Denmark (2016) and The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! Serpentine Galleries, London (2017).

Places

Subjects

ladder, horseback, caravan, wagon, ambulance, jeep, motorcycle, tank, car, lorry/truck, pick-up truck, biplane, jet, aeroplane, helicopter, rocket, barbed wire, satire, tree, horse, cave, mountain, hill, sea, man, woman, girl, Maypole, gravestone, execution, crucifixion, burning, hanging, death, tea, fair/festival/carnival, rocket launcher, cannon, rifle (military), bomb, stone wall, trench, churchyard, telegraph pole, kiln, shop, house, cottage, windmill, fortress, pagoda, ruin, tent/marquee, archway, minaret, tiled roof, chimney, tower, chair, shipwreck, sailboat, ship

Materials & Techniques

etching

Artist

Grayson Perry (1960 - )

Title

Print for a Politician

Edition

5/59

Date

2005

Medium

Etching (3 plates)

Dimensions

height: 67.70 cm, width: 249.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from The Paragon Press, June 2006

Inscription

verso, lr: Grayson Perry / 5/59

Provenance

The Paragon Press, London

GAC number

18079