The Vanity of Small Differences is a series of six tapestries by Grayson Perry. ‘The title ‘The vanity of small differences' is a Freudian term which means that we dislike no one quite so much as our nearest neighbour.
I am looking at him for his visual storytelling. The tapestries tell the storey inspired by William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress in which eight paintings tell the story of Tom Rakewell, a young man who inherits a fortune from his miserly father, spends it all on fashionable pursuits and gambling, marries for money, gambles away a second fortune, goes to debtors' prison and dies in a madhouse.
The Vanity of Small Differences tells the story of the rise and demise of Tim Rakewell and is composed of characters, incidents and objects Perry encountered on journeys through Sunderland, Tunbridge Wells and The Cotswolds whilst filming a TV series based on taste.
It is the progression I am looking at and the imagery he uses within that almost religious tableau of iconography. A snapshot of time along the rise and fall of a human life. I’m looking for the ‘when’, ‘why’, ‘what’ & ‘how’.
I am mixing up the order, as my story has a different path from innocence to loss to downfall then rises to acceptance & possibility. Although the pivotal points I find are the same. The series has given me a focus on planning the series and what each image depicts, as the progression from the last.
