Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close (from The Vanity of Small Differences)

Rendered on a monumental scale, Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close is a magnificent work from Grayson Perry’s landmark series The Vanity of Small Differences: a group of six large tapestries which present a story of class mobility in Britain. Executed in 2012, the series offers a contemporary reimagination of William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress (1732–1734). Hogarth’s eight paintings chart the downfall of Tom Rakewell, a young heir who drains his inheritance on luxurious living, is sent to debtors’ prison, and ultimately dies in a psychiatric hospital. A contrary rags-to-riches tale, Perry’s version follows Tim Rakewell, a working-class boy who swaps his humble beginnings for a life of fame and fortune. A response to his Channel 4 documentary All in the Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry (2012), which saw him visit three different social groups across Sunderland, Tunbridge Wells and the Cotswolds, the characters and objects in the series are inspired directly by Perry’s travels across Britain. With one set currently held in the Arts Council Collection, London, The Vanity of Small Differences represents one of the most important series in Perry’s oeuvre.

The third work in the series, Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close depicts Tim and his girlfriend following a fight with his mother and stepfather. They pass through a rainbow as Jamie Oliver—‘the god of social mobility’ according to Perry—looks down upon them. To the left, Tim’s family appear on an AstroTurf lawn, his stepfather having just returned from a game of golf in his luxury car. Angry, and armed with a golf club and hoover, they send the couple on their way, shooing them towards the right side of the work. Here, Tim’s girlfriend’s family sit at dinner, toasting ceremoniously to the couple’s arrival. Perry playfully details the scene from Tim’s girlfriend’s perspective: ‘I met Tim at College, he was Such a Geek. He took me back to meet his mother and Stepfather. Their house was so clean and Tidy, not a speck of dust ... Or a book, apart from her god, Jamie. She Says I have turned Tim into a Snob. His parents don’t appreciate how bright he is. My father laughed at Tim’s accent but welcomed him onto the sunlit uplands of the middle classes. I hope Tim loses his obsession with money.’

Highlighting the influence of early Renaissance painting on the series, Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close makes direct reference to Masaccio’s The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden (circa 1425), its protagonists mirroring Adam and Eve’s distraught poses. Inserting his figures in the twenty-first century, Perry shows Tim clutching a neon yellow smartphone, a motif which appears again in the final tapestry of the series, this time smashed on the ground as he lies dead after a car crash. Such familiar, modern devices are presented as symbols of wealth and class, invoking the strategies employed in paintings such as Jan van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Portrait (1434) or Thomas Gainsborough’s Mr & Mrs Andrews (1750). Perry, like Tim Rakewell, also transcended his humble origins to achieve international stardom. Saturated with dark humour, Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close captures the moment at which the protagonist begins to fall headlong towards his untimely fate.