G
rayson Perry has always been a controversial
artist, but he suspects that no one has
noticed. Oh, people know he’s a hugely
successful potter in an art world that doesn’t
usually rate pottery, and they’ve definitely
spotted that he’s a transvestite with an alter
ego called Claire, who wears fabulous dresses to televised
awards shows. Then there’s his very watchable documentary
series for Channel 4, which has turned him into something
of a household name, and there’s also his wife, Philippa
Perry, whose fame is starting to rival his with her bestselling
psychotherapy books about bringing up children and staying
sane. But controversial? Dangerous? Problematic?
“I’m playing a fine line here,” he admits.
We meet in his north London studio, where he is dressed
in a flowery pink fleece, pink dungarees and matching nail
varnish. He shows me the artworks to be unveiled in his
forthcoming show at Victoria Miro gallery, his first commercial
exhibition in seven years. The first thing I notice is a pot
with the motto “Vote Tory” written cheerily across it, with
photographs of leading Conservative politicians beaming out
through the glaze. I gasp slightly at this rogues’ gallery,
embedded so proudly and yet so vulnerably in the ceramic
sheen. Then I imagine the furore when it is seen by those
who assume Perry is a warring leftie. Of course, there is
humour in the work, which is perhaps not to be taken literally- but it would be wrong to see Perry as a warrior of the woke.
“I seem to get away with murder on pottery, because of its
inherent naffness,” he tells me.
He is sitting on a sofa in his studio, which is composed of
two whitewashed, light-filled rooms and various pieces of
equipment including a kiln. Perry makes art here but does
not reply to emails – his assistant deals with that, with Perry
describing the very concept of email as “a to-do list written
for you by somebody else”. His happily childlike outfit belies
a gruff, workaday manner, as he sits back with his legs apart,
eats a banana and says what he thinks.
The new show is called Super Rich Interior Decoration, and
if you can imagine a Venn diagram where “making fun of the
wealthy” overlaps with “made for the wealthy”, that’s the
nexus where it exists. The title of the show came about when
Perry was working on hanging the Royal Academy 2018
Summer Show, where he painted the main gallery an
unexpectedly bright shade of sunshine yellow. One of “the
more snarky, conservative” members of the Academy walked
in “and he said to me, ‘Oh, I see what you’ve done there:
interior decoration.’”
Perry was annoyed “for a millisecond, but then I was
inspired. You can easily turn those snobby insults into an
asset. You know, it’s like someone calling me a pseudo-
intellectual. How do you tell the difference between an
intellectual and a pseudo-intellectual? The pseudo-
intellectual’s the one with the TV series, the book deal and
the stage show.” He laughs, deliciously. “It’s bitter jealousy.”
And so he devised this exhibition, “because I thought I
would do a show about rich people and art collecting”.
To sell to rich people who collect art? “They love to be
included.” He means this literally – he sometimes features
names of potential buyers on his works, and says this can
really help get a sale. “My advice to young artists is,
it’s a good tactic to put the names of art collectors on your
work. They can’t resist buying them.”
The show contains 10 pots, a tapestry, a couple of prints
and, for the first time, a Grayson Perry rug. There is also a
handbag, made in collaboration with Graeme Ellisdon of
Osprey London. He has worked with a lot of photography, >
“I seem to
get away
with murder
on pottery,
because of
its inherent
naf fness”13010-19-Arts-GrasonPerry.indd 130 13/08/2019 13:06