The Turner Prize-winner Grayson Perry tweeted that he had submitted a proposal to install nearly one million ceramic puppies around the Tower of London, but in the same tweet, the artist announced that his proposal had allegedly been rejected. “My proposal to install 800,000 ceramic puppies around the Tower of London has been turned down,” the artist wrote, ending his tweet with a sad emoticon.
The artist is known for creating ceramic vases and sculptures, and his female alter ego, Claire, who often makes an appearance in his art. But the artist recent work honoured another woman. ‘A House for Essex’ – at once an architectural form and a particularly personal artwork for the artist – has also created a new landmark for the Essex coast.
The work is cross between Hansel and Gretel and a Russian Orthodox church, an eccentric dedication to a saint – in this case a secular one by the name of Julie Cope – the collective works give expression to the fictional life of the ‘every-woman of Essex’ through both art and architecture.
As the Independent make note of, in this instance Perry’s puppy proposal is likely to be a riff on Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, a 2014 installation by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper, a work which saw areas surrounding the Tower of London filled with 888,246 ceramic poppies – one for each British soldier who died during World War I – with each poppy later auctioned off individually on eBay to raise money for military-related charities.