O ne o f the most visible members o f the London art scene,
P erry is know n as much for appearing as his alter ego, a young girl
named Claire, as he is for his Turner P rize-w inning pottery. Alan
M easles, the character at the center o f
Vote Alan Measles For God,
is P erry’s childhood teddy bear, w hich often appears in his w ork.
Perry can, at tim es, come across as Shirley Tem ple as imagined by
John W aters, but he is well-known as an astute observer o f politics
and history and an adherent to the craft-based techniques in which
he w as trained.
L ike Perry, Brooklyn-based Fred Tom aselli is no stranger to
craft, noted as he is for his collaging o f leaves or magazine cutouts
beneath a layer o f resin on his paintings. H is entry to “ Dem ons,
Yarns and T ales,”
After Migrant Fruit Thugs,
based on an earlier
tapestry-inspired painting,
Migrant Fruit Thugs,
depicts a vibrant
pair o f birds on a jet-black night. Gold and metallic threads pick out
Above: In
G eorgieand
Orchids,
Gary Hume’s
homage to his wife, his
use of house paint is
softened by its transla-
tion into fabric.
Below: Grayson Perry,
the 2003 Turner Prize-
winner, in his London
studio with some of
his socially conscious
pottery.
details in the tapestry leaves, imitating the beauty and decay o f the
original fig leaves.
“ I had recently been to the Renaissance tapestry show at the
M etropolitan M useum , and I even w rote a little piece about it
being one o f my favorite show s,” Tom aselli says. “ It w as on my
mind, so I had done this painting that w as more or less related
to that. W h en the Sharps approached m e, I thought it w ould be
interesting—because I was originally inspired by Renaissance
tapestries-to kind o f go ahead and make my painting into one. It
seemed like a little feedback loop o f influence becoming the thing
itself again.” T h e loop seems to have worked quite well; Tomaselli
was delighted with the rendering o f his painting by the Chinese
w eavers, w ith whom the R ug Com pany has w orked frequently
in the past.
T h e London artist Paul N oble had more reason to be im -
pressed than m ost w ith the C hinese m akers, as his very untradi-
tional lookin g piece w as som ething o f a w eaver’s nightm are.
A t m ore than 14 feet high and w id e, it is one o f the largest tapes-
tries and spent a year on the loom . H ow ever, m ost o f the com -
plications w ere due not to size but to the fact that N oble renders >
050 american craft feb/maro9
