The British artist Grayson Perry has been working on a new sculpture inspired by his 60-year-old childhood teddy bear called Alan Measles, for his new Channel 4 show Grayson’s Art Club. In this clip, the artist can be seen reminiscing about past works based on his talismanic teddy. The bear was named after the disease Perry had as a three-year-old, when they “bonded”. So it is the “perfect candidate for a protective spirit in the middle of a pandemic”, he says.
The six-part series premieres this evening—after being delayed—and is being filmed in Perry’s studio. Each episode will be themed and viewers and budding artists can submit their own works. Perry will be picking his favourites, which will be included in an exhibition at a later date, and chatting to some of their makers via video calls. Perry, who spoke to the The Art Newspaper earlier this month, says he hopes “we can make something uplifting in response to the crisis”.
