Medal

Two exhibitions, one held in 2008 and one in 2018, called attention to Perry’s metalworks. The first was a public exhibition entitled Medals Of Dishonour, which was held by the British Museum in 2009. The show focused on displaying the Museum’s collection of satirical and political medals from the 16th to the 20th century. In the exhibition catalogue, the curator declared that the exhibition featured medals that “condemn rather than celebrate their subjects and addressed issues as diverse as the war in Iraq and consumerism”. For the occasion, the British Museum asked Perry, one of the leading British artists on the contemporary scene, to contribute by creating a medal. The result, For Faith In Shopping, is a witty and humorous commentary on the predominance of consumerism in our culture. Consumer culture has been at the centre of artistic attention ever since the 1920s, either hailed or criticised and has fascinated artists like Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst. Perry’s work engages this artistic genealogy and offers a critique of label culture, calling out the modern obsession with brands like Chanel, Dior or Rolex, by creating an image of the Virgin, named Our Lady Of Bond Street in reference to the famous shopping venue in London. The image plays with traditional colonial imagery of the Virgin, disseminated in Latin American countries like Peru or Colombia. In its simplicity, the medal strikes for its clarity of message and its art historical references.

The second work, Artist’s Medal, was produced more recently on the occasion of Perry’s first solo exhibition in France, Vanité, Identité, Sexualité, held in 2018 at the Monnaie de Paris. The show celebrated Perry’s oeuvre in all of its variety and included pre-existing works as well as new ones. The medal produced represents Perry’s childhood teddy bear, Alan Measels, which the artist includes in several of his works. The teddy bear is here portrayed in the guise of a war hero, the medal reminiscent of commemorative war medals. This portrayal pays homage to the Monnaie de Paris, which to this day continues to manufacture legions of honour.

Perhaps some of Perry’s more surprising works, these metalworks coalesce together different aspects of the artist’s oeuvre, ranging from his political and social satire, his engagement with metalwork, and his public commissions, and attest to Perry's multifaceted practice and career.

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