When you think of art, usually the first thing that comes to mind is not a giant ceramic penis adorned with banknotes and the faces of London bankers, but Grayson Perry made it – and we’re sort of obsessed.
As part of his series Grayson Perry: All Man Perry went into the banking industry in the UK and interviewed as many men as possible. Although Perry admits he went into the project with his own prejudices against the hyper-masculine culture of banking and finance, his experience within the world of finance proved him that he wasn’t wrong.
Going up the ranks within the banking industry, Perry was fascinated by their inability to acknowledge how male-oriented it really was. The fact he points out, that there are more men named John or Dave than women at all in the industry seemed to go straight over the head, as they tried to maintain that the patriarchal culture had long been eradicated.
So that takes us to the penis. Perry also notes it was inspired by the London skyline, which when you look at it, makes a lot of sense.
Image: Jason Hawkes/Barcroft Images
We never thought we’d look at a phallus covered in money and faces and actually see the political implications of it, but here we are. The 21st century is weird.
