Grayson Perry’s Art Club: The Exhibition

May 27

After following Grayson Perry’s TV show, avidly throughout the Coronavirus lockdown and then finding out my friend, Alice Fraser, was in charge of designing the branding for all things ‘art club’ , it was a must to visit Manchester Art Gallery for the exhibition.

The exhibition transported you back to the time spent in lockdown, when the world stopped still temporarily. There is a sculpture piece of a fridge with a curtain that illustrates the ritual of going to the fridge frequently during lockdown , with hope to find something exciting in there. It made me smile, as we all found ourselves becoming keen banana bread bakers and ladies ( & gents ) that brunch, with a perfectly poached egg of course. As we found ourselves being butchers, bakers and candlestick makers consequently, this lead to multiple trips to the fridge during the day. The piece hit the nail on the head, putting a humorous spin on what was a strange time.

The nurses photographs certainly stopped you in your tracks, whilst the ones of the public standing patiently in a queue reminded us of the early days of the virus. It caused me to say to my mum, ‘Oh yes and when I’d request Dorito’s with dip and a bag of Tangfastics to be added to the shopping list, every week’. These fuelled my lockdown hobby of painting. As you reach the final room, the theme tune echos around the gallery, it makes me relax, it reminds me of a time when it was comforting to tune into ‘art club’ and just shut off from all the noise and panic for an hour.

As for my friend, Alice Fraser, it was a delight to see her work filling the exhibit. From floor signs, exhibition guides to the Art Club Logo, that was all Alice. You can find her @_alicefraser , Office of Craig.