Grayson Perry donates sketch to help mental health support group
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Version 0 of 1. The Turner prize-winning artist Grayson Perry has donated a sketch appearing to represent the workings of a troubled mind to help a tiny cash-strapped mental health support group. Members of the Willow Tree Group in Dorset wrote to Perry, who has spoken about his own battle with depression, explaining that the group’s local authority funding had been cut and it was struggling to survive. They were delighted when a padded bag arrived with a sketch by Perry along with a note saying it was probably worth about £2,000 and could be auctioned off. Barrie Smith, a member of the group, said that after it lost its funding, the group had to find £7,000 a year to continue. He said: “I had seen Grayson Perry on the news and on the TV and he seemed a sympathetic and caring person who might help. “I wrote to him via the Saatchi Gallery and a few weeks later a package arrived. Normally I tear these things open but for some reason I didn’t with this one, which was just as well. “Inside a crush-proof case was a Jiffy bag containing the artwork, and the note saying it was worth £2,000. I couldn’t believe it. “Our group meets once a week for lunch and has been going for 25 years. When our funding was cut we decided to carry on but we had to fund ourselves.” The sketch is being auctioned by Duke’s in Dorchester. Amy Brenan from the auction house said: “The sketch is based upon the mechanics of the mind. Grayson Perry has drawn a series of disjointed motorbike engine parts in black ink, highlighted with red pen and shaded with pencil, with speech bubbles enclosing expletives and adjectives describing a disturbed mental state. “The sketch is extremely powerful and typifies Grayson’s use of contemporary and controversial themes, often with an autobiographical theme. “Phrases used in the sketch include ‘When are you going to take responsibility?’, ‘My mother was right about you’ and ‘I want a divorce’. It is almost a dissection on paper of someone’s troubled mind.” Perry has spoken to the Guardian about his fight with depression and anxiety. The potter, tapestry maker (and cross-dresser) went to therapy for six years, which he said was hugely helpful and continued to inform his art, including his focus on identity. Last month, at the launch of a gallery and museum space at the Bethlem hospital in south London, which treats people with mental health problems, he said: “Art is the greatest asset to mental health that I have.” The sketch will be sold at Duke’s on 16 April. |