Grayson Perry’s Art Club show to feature Antony Gormley and Vic Reeves

Last month Channel 4 announced a new six-part series hosted by Grayson Perry from his London studio, wherein the artist will encourage viewers to get creative during lockdown. Today, new details have been released about the series titled Grayson’s Art Club, including guests, a line-up of artists and comedians-cum-artists who will be interviewed via video call about their artistic practice. These include Antony Gormley, Tacita Dean, Vic Reeves, Chantal Joffe, Joe Lycett, Maggi Hambling, Harry Hill and Jessica Hynes.

Each episode will see Perry teach masterclasses on creativity and take viewers with him as he makes new artworks in his studio. “This series will be as much an act of spontaneous creativity as the stuff that usually happens here,” he explains in a statement. “I hope we can make something uplifting in response to the crisis.”

The six episodes are themed, with famous guests invited to talk about their work in relation to the theme – for example episode one is themed ‘portrait’, and features Chantal Joffe and Joe Lycett, who has taken up portraiture during isolation, and episode two is themed ‘animals’, featuring Maggi Hambling and Harry Hill. Episode three is themed 'fantasy' and will include interviews with Jessica Hynes and Antony Gormley, while episode four is themed 'view from my window' and will feature Jim Moir aka Vic Reeves, and Tacita Dean. Themes and guests for the last two episodes are yet to be revealed.

Members of the public are invited to make works around each theme and share them with Perry, for a chance to be interviewed by the artist as part of the show. “I will be showing you the progress of the artworks I am making in these strange days, but I am most excited about seeing what artistic creations people all over the country have been up to in lockdown,” Perry continues, “and talking to other artists about how they are dealing with the weirdness.”

In a callout for submissions, Channel 4 says: “Whether you have a talent for meme creation, sculpture, painting, drawing, or maybe you’re a make-up artist creating new looks whilst at home? Anything goes. Grayson wants viewers to feel energised to get involved and produce visual representations of what they are thinking, feeling and experiencing in isolation.”

Perry plans to curate a public exhibition of artworks created for the show after lockdown is over, to “chronicle the changing moods of Britain in isolation and provide a record of the historic times we’ve lived through,” Channel 4 says in a statement, adding that “being in isolation doesn't mean you're alone. Art can help us through this”.

Perry concludes: “It should be inspiring, fun, full of helpful tips to get the nation making art- and maybe a bit poignant.”

Submissions for the first episode are already closed but you can submit artworks for the second episode themed ‘animals’ here.

Grayson’s Art Club starts 27 April, 8pm on Channel 4.