grayson Perry- i am a man

Question 1

year

Answer 1

2014

Question 2

technique

Answer 2

lost wax like benin bronzes:

modelled with clay, mold made from model

mold was brushed with wax

wax covered in layers of het resistent plaster

wax tubes fitted

molten bronse poured through ducts, wax melts out tubes

Question 3

material

Answer 3

cast in bronze and finished with a dark patina

by castina in bronze status and importance is added to the subject

recalls benin bronzes

great technical skill required for thickness of bronze

Question 4

link to benin bronzes

Answer 4

-regal connotations of BB lend the work dignity and connote a strength and power to the subject

-perry deliberately draws parallels to what the bronzes represent: cultral pride, power, kingship, heroism

Question 5

who does the sculpture depict

Answer 5

Alexander white Huggins- sculpture of a female to male black transsexual

commonly kmown as ‘jazz’

Question 6

how did white Huggins struggle

Answer 6

in persuading his family of the necessity of his gender reassignment

Question 7

how does perry identify with the subject

Answer 7

identifies with story (started exploring gender through transvestisicsm age 12)

fascinated by issues of gender

although masculine transvestitism is a big part of his life and childhood (he plays with construct of masculinity

Question 8

how does this sculpture recall peter pan and whats the significance of this

Answer 8

white-huggins’s favourite fictional character as a child (he was a permenatly pre-pubescet boy traditionally played on stage by an adult woman) huggins identifies with this imposter like feeling

recalls sculpture of peter pan in kensington gardens by sir george frampton 1912 (but rendered in style of benin bronze for culture identification)

Question 9

pose

Answer 9

stands on top of a rams trunk (elevates status and triumph)

blows a rams horn (affirm triumph and pride aswell as connotations of masculinity)

bare chested pose is proud (confident in male identity after top surgery, which would have taken place by 2014)

Question 10

significace of blowing a rams horn

Answer 10

blows a rams horn (affirm triumph and pride aswell as connotations of masculinity)

Question 11

significance of bare chested pose

Answer 11

bare chested pose is proud (confident in male identity after top surgery, which would have taken place by 2014)

Question 12

scale

Answer 12

small scale increases intimacy, shows personal mate=ter of subject

alludes to benin bronzes

Question 13

clothing

Answer 13

semi nude, draped cloth around waist (proud in masculine identity)

Question 14

objects/attributes surrounding him

Answer 14

‘minasture versionsof cliched masculinity’

dog

hand axe (strength, masculinity, also alludes to ceremonial axe of benin bronze)

guitar (seen in white huggins’s room)

a beer bottle

a football

wooden sword

rocket

phallic imagrey of a penis

Question 15

exhibition

Answer 15

part of an exhibition of 14 works for national portrait gallery

cfelebration of identity celebrated in a national space of colonialism

Question 16

what the book of poems white huggins wrote

Answer 16

jazz poems- written to express himself