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Hospital's nice little urner after Grayson Perry sees heart surgery
Evening Standard 8 Sep 2009Artist Grayson Perry watched open heart surgery before creating a work which is to be auctioned to raise funds for a hospital.
The Turner-prize winning potter saw the operation at the Harefield Hospital in Uxbridge, Britain's largest specialist heart and lung centre.
He has now created a unique glazed ceramic Urn For The Living, 2009, which will have an estimate of £30,000 to £50,000 in the Sotheby's auction next week for the hospital.
Surgeon Jullien Gaer has invited artists to visit the hospital and even watch surgery in collaboration with his wife Polly Robinson Gaer, an art adviser.
Other works being auctioned include pieces by Tracey Emin, Anselm Kiefer, Rachel Howard, Sarah Lucas, Boo Ritson, Conrad Shawcross and Bernar Venet.
Perry said: “Harefield is a place where patients who otherwise are going to die are given a second chance.
“The care they receive requires old fashioned dedication and bravery as well as the most modern skills and technology.
“Harefield is a powerful expression of society's love for the individual.”
Operations undertaken at the hospital include heart transplants and the installation of artificial hearts.
Mr Gaer said the auction would enable more essential cardiac research to be carried out at the hospital.
He said: “Harefield offers a last chance for many patients whose heart surgery is so complex and risky that other hospitals will not consider operating on them.
“However, funds are desperately needed to continue the pioneering research that makes these operations possible.
“Through the extraordinary generosity of the artists who are donating their work and the invaluable support of Sotheby's and their collectors, we hope to be able to raise funds to make the difference.”
Oliver Barker, Sotheby's senior specialist in contemporary art and auctioneer, said: “We are extremely grateful to these nine contemporary artists for generously donating such prime examples of their work.”
