… But some are more insular than others. Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry, according to this disputed article on Wikipedia “best known for his ceramics and his cross-dressing”, is the artist behind this obsessively detailed cartographic self-portrait.
His Map of An Englishman (2004) is a mock-Tudor etch of an imaginary island, not coincidentally resembling a brain, surrounded by Psychopath, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Delirium and other unpleasantness at sea; divided into counties with alluring names such as Tender, Bitch, Romance, Cliché and Guru – Normal and Easy are pretty small areas, and Fear is a large, scary forest in the east.
Hills, houses and castles, but mainly churches, dot the countryside, each bearing the name of character traits (or flaws) or other words somehow connectible the artist, expressing prejudices, fears, desires, vanities and other attributes of the artist, ranging from Two-Car-Family and Stuck over Cuddly and Intersubjectivity to Dream-Date and I’m-Out-Of-Control.Some elements seem to be thematically grouped together, hence the region labelled Posh is thick with place-names like Chattering, Broadsheet, Yoga, Chardonnay, School Run and Bulemic.
The map was sent in by Paul Razell, who “saw Grayson Perry’s Map of an Englishman at the British Museum in November 2007, and have been meaning to bring this to your attention.” Many thanks! The original location of this image is here, some more info on the map here at Artificial Gallery.
The actual shape of the island is probably meant to resemble the Falkland Islands.
Comment by James — February 8, 2008 @ 11:06 pm
This is great! I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Comment by nwlimited — February 9, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
This is absolutely gorgeous! I read every bit of it and found many recognizable places on it.
Comment by Michelle — February 9, 2008 @ 5:52 pm
What a sick, sad, guy this poor tormented man is. (He really needs some help quite quickly, someone get to him please…perhaps you who are the persons who wrote the 2nd abd 3rd comments 2 nd 3 above.)
I hope it does not resemble the Falkland Islands, or a number of Old British Soldiers who I know will be very upset by it. (Don’t worry, I will not tell them for there is no point now. They will not come after him for it is he who is ill and needs help.) I fear, however, that he is under the delusion that he is a fascist lefty who hates us, and the Falkland Islands are exactly what it is meant to resemble.
I have looked in some detail at the various names printed on these maps with which he has funished us, and I think the poor chap really ought to see a doctor and quite soon, or he might hurt himself and others.
This is not “art”; it is not “maps”; it is crap, and you should not have uploaded it. you should get the author to seek help, now.
David Davis
http://libertarianalliance.wordpress.com
Comment by David Davis — February 9, 2008 @ 6:11 pm
And……
I don’t like him making fun of people who have Tourette’s syndrome, by naming an ocean after it. Sorry, it’s not funny. DD
Comment by David Davis — February 9, 2008 @ 6:18 pm
Michelle, you are also a very sad person. Get help now.
Comment by David Davis — February 9, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
Dear Mr Davis,
Please do not launch ad hominem attacks on other commenters who merely express their appreciation for the work presented here.
As a libertarian, you should accept that it’s up to individuals to determine what they deem art, and how much they appreciate it.
Comment by strangemaps — February 9, 2008 @ 8:37 pm
OK. Sure. Point taken.
All I’m doing is expressing my libertarian right to not appreciate this particular item.
I’d also like to help others not to appreciate it, so that the planet gets less of it in future.
If it was anti-green, then I’m sure Al gore and his groupies would describe it as 2not helpful” at the very least.
By the way, I love your blog. It has been linked to our bolgroll for some time, and quite incidentally I recommend it to my students frequently.
Comment by David Davis — February 9, 2008 @ 9:48 pm
@ strangemaps: Thank you. It’s reassuring to know that there are still some people out there who are familiar with openmindness and common courtesy.
Comment by Michelle — February 9, 2008 @ 10:01 pm
The map shows mainly churches because that’s what Saxton’s series of English county maps show(of around 1570-90). The churches were often the only large stone buildings in a village at that time, so they were chosen to represent the entire village; and the distinguishing features such as having a spire or tower, are frequently shewn.
As for Grayson needing “help” – he’s well enough aware of his mental state it seems, and he is a very skilled and respected artist in his field.
Comment by Moses — February 10, 2008 @ 12:09 pm
As a libertarian, I’m disappointed by David Davis’s intolerance and I’d like to speak up for good old Grayson – he has made a sizeable contribution to the gaiety of the nation.
Comment by Graham Asher — February 11, 2008 @ 1:07 pm
This map is amazing. I’m glad you put it up.
Comment by brilliantmistake — February 11, 2008 @ 8:49 pm
[...] self-portrait” by Turner Prize–winning artist Grayson Perry. Found through Strange Maps, which explains [...]
Pingback by Grayson Perry | Delicious Ghost — February 15, 2008 @ 4:54 am
For info, there was an exhibition recently in Cork Ireland, which featured the work of this artist, along with many other “mapping” artwork.
The website for details on the exhibition are here… http://www.crawfordartgallery.com/RecentExhibs.html
Comment by RICH — February 15, 2008 @ 9:32 am
As “art”, this map is rubbish.
As “a map”, this map is also rubbish.
I am quite happy for the artist Grayson Perry to indulge in whatever endeavors he wants (but note his cowardise in the face of islamic nutters) but come on, just because he has produced a map and this is a map blog doesn’t mean to say that you should all accept it without thinking.
Comment by vision25 — February 16, 2008 @ 2:33 pm
Brilliant map, very funny stuff. My favourite is the town of Innit in the county Bloke (separated from the city of Normal by a river called Progress no less!) I do wonder why diarrhoea is in the region of sex though?
The only explanation I can see for some of the vitriol directed towards this piece is that some people have a personal bias against the artist. I always try to avoid such things, otherwise I would never have seen some great movies like, for example, Collateral or Magnolia, owing to Tom Cruise being a complete nutter. Art should be judged as a piece of art, not as the product of an artist.
Comment by Michael Newton — February 16, 2008 @ 4:23 pm
As I said before, this is a brilliant and (mostly) intelligent blog, and we are all fortunate to have found it (I praise it from time to time on mine, and have learned useful stuff from some of the posts.)
Commentators on here are right to infer that I do not exactly view Grayson Perry or his work in quite as positive a light as “prevailing artistic opinion” would suggets that I “ought to”. This is because i have quite well-formed views about “art”, what it really was, is and will be – despite modern trends snd fashions- and what it is for, and this is not the relevant place to go into them.
Being a libertarian also means that I think people ight to be able to air their views, even if objectionable to some others. Certain fulsome praises about this “map” were objectionable to me, so I said so. Perhaps I was a bit hot-tempered at the time, but I stand by my thesis in general still.
In return, those who lambasted me had every (libertarian) right to do so if they felt I was being a prat. However, it is comforting to see that I am not totally alone!
Comment by David Davis — February 17, 2008 @ 6:54 pm
Mr. Davis: How would you respond to the assertion that the English are weird people.
Comment by Ronald — February 20, 2008 @ 3:11 pm
It depends on what you mean by weird.
To whom are you comparing us if this assertion was to be made, for example?
We might be considered weird, if you agree that we have angered nearly all the pre-capitalist barbarian Euro-Tyrannies, for example, such as the French and the Germans, for showing their world-model to be oppressive of individual liberties and therefore false. We (and the Americans, who are English) are widely hated for showing the world the door out of Hell. THis could be weird in some quarters.
Or we could be considered weird for allowing ourselves to become (a) the slaves of a socialist government, or (b) not shouting “the Emperor has no clothes!” when presented with things that are prescribed to be “art”.
Comment by David Davis — February 20, 2008 @ 3:40 pm
Few people realize that the European Union will eventually evolve into a dictatorship. How else can you artificially keep dozens of countries of various languages and cultures together under one huge government bureaucracy. Does the UK plan on leaving the EU anytime soon. Future EU president Tony Blair may not want that to happen!
The Americans are NOT English, nor British. Americans speak a dialect of British English, that is true. But to state that the Americans are English is like telling a Mexican that he is a Spaniard. As you already know, the cultural differences are HUGE.
Now if you were to state that the Irish people are merely the cheerful and friendly version of the English people, or that the Australians are actually English cowboys with “Tall poppy syndrome,” I would be more likely to believe you when you state that a common language = same cultural values.
Socialism? Capitalism? I understand the version of Anglo-American capitalism quite well. Read the the book: Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, and let us know what you think.
Maps such as this one of Britain are silly, at best. I too, prefer ethnic and historical maps: what was, what is, and what could be. One thing in the Englishman map is missing: Since Britain will be an Islamic country by 2050, perhaps the place names should be named after the Koran. What do you think? Will somebody go ask the Archbishop!
Comment by Ronald — February 22, 2008 @ 3:07 pm
Ronald said;
“Since Britain will be an Islamic country by 2050, perhaps the place names should be named after the Koran.”
Maybe it will, maybe not, but the signs are pointing that way. The ritual socialist renaming of absolutely-founded, a-priori places in British lands (such as “Harare City” for Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia) is an infantile Marxist custom which the Moslems will probably want to emulate. To be able to do it in the land of those who showed the world the Door Out Of Hell, and taught it How To Live, in the face of all tyrannies, is an opportunity not to be missed!
Perhaps I feel a new map coming on! I’m sure that Mr Grayson Perry, considering his own quite well-articulated policy-position on Britain (or does he ACTUALLY just mean…England ??!!) would approve!
Anybody feel like getting a blank UK map and renaiming places?
Comment by David Davis — February 22, 2008 @ 8:08 pm
Do you think that the person who made this map (I am not going to become involved in the heated debate here about him – what’s all the fuss about?) was influenced by the map of Utopia included in Sir Thomas More’s book? Am I alone is seeing a similarity?
Check out this link:
http://users.nsula.edu/sinclaird/utopia.jpg
Comment by lichanos — February 28, 2008 @ 8:29 pm
thank you
Comment by Tony — May 4, 2009 @ 3:33 am
thanks for this map
good
luck
..
Comment by Solomon — May 11, 2009 @ 8:49 am
merci
Comment by aspicco . — May 17, 2009 @ 6:28 am
Vielen Dank
Comment by moon — July 3, 2009 @ 5:05 am
Muchas gracias
Comment by sun — July 4, 2009 @ 7:30 am