Sir Grayson Perry C.B.E. R.A. (British b.1960)

Sir Grayson Perry C.B.E. R.A. (British b.1960)
Chris Whitty's Cat
2020
signed and numbered 23/500 to slip
oxidised cast silver pendant on chain
published by Manchester Art Gallery
contained within original presentation box
3.5 x 4.2 x 2cm
ARR

Note: Chris Whitty’s Cat was a sculpture created by Grayson Perry as part of Grayson’s Art Club, a series developed during the Covid-19 pandemic to provide artists with a platform for expression in a time of national lockdown. The sculpture was inspired by a walk Perry took during lockdown- when citizens were permitted only one daily outing for exercise-where he encountered the statue of Hodge, the cat belonging to Samuel Johnson, in the then ghostlike City of London.

Reflecting on the myths, symbols and Icons of London, Perry connected this idea to the emerging figurehead of the UK’s pandemic response: Professor Chris Whitty, England’s Chief Medical Officer. Exploring the theme of Cat companions and depictions, he drew further inspiration from an Islamic incense burner noted for its elaborate design and reinterpreted this refined object through the lens of a pandemic.

The cat sculpture is marked with surface textures resembling pustules and boils- evoking historical references to the plague and symbolising the physical and emotional scars of the Covid-19 crisis. In conjunction with the sculpture, Perry produced an edition of 500 miniature pendants. Cast in oxidised silver and designed to be worn on a chain, these tokens act as wearable reminders of the extraordinary and surreal experience of the 2020 lockdown- a blend of hardship and mythology in collective memory.