Grayson Perry

This is Shirley Smith's own version of the most famous painting in the Wallace Collection, The Swing, painted in 1768 by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Shirley downplays the erotic subject matter of the original and the two men disappear into the background leaving the demonic heroine glowing centre-stage. Obsessively hand-sewn onto a patchwork of cheap domestic fabrics from the 1960s and 1970s, the Rococo froth is reinterpreted as a writhing mass of psychedelic curlicues. The title derives from the fact that the word 'fascist' was sewn several times onto the fabric before the main image was applied. This has been interpreted by modern commentators as 'a proto-craftivist outburst against the government and aristocracy for their refusal to restore Shirley Smith's birthright'.

Grayson Perry