Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences, Victoria Miro - review

Grayson Perry’s prize-winning Walthamstow Tapestry now seems like a rehearsal for these stunning vignettes of life in Britain today. He describes them as “a commonplace tale of social mobility in average Britain”. From story-board sketches of people met during trips for his TV series All in the Best Possible Taste, the panels were woven digitally and radiate wonderfully syncopated colour tones. Each scene is packed with product placement, brand names and political catch-phrases on cushions, mugs and clothes, used to symbolise class differences. Subtle references to classical paintings appear in every scene — the mirror in Van Eyck’s Arnolfini Marriage now reflects Perry photographing food in a dining room: food the class identifier.

Perry’s main inspiration was William Hogarth’s paintings of The Rake’s Progress, whose main character, Tom Rakewell, was morphed into Tim, a 21st-century working-class millionaire whose career collapsed. His birth in Sunderland is portrayed in The Adoration of the Cage Fighters where the Magi offer a symbolically redundant miner’s helmet. The portrait of that city, The Agony in the Car Park, is the richest and most densely informative image, focused on Tim’s singing icon, speed car fanatics and the abandoned industry. With Rakewell’s crash, he finds anti-fat cats camping on the lawn of his country estate, hounds grabbing him like raptors for taxes. But the real crash, Lamentation, sees him sprawled dead on the road near his priceless smashed car, new young wife and iPhone. “All that money and he dies in the gutter,” the nurse is quoted in grey lettering.

This fascinating and original reflection on contemporary British life warrants a place in the next time-capsule — or museum space.

Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences runs until August 11 (020 7336 8109, victoria-miro.com). All in the Best Possible Taste, C4, June 12, 10pm.

For the latest exhibitions and events visit our Going Out pages.