Grayson Perry

        I mentioned in my last post that I would talk consecutively about Grayson Perry and Henry Darger, because they're two of my favorite artists and also because they are very much in conversation with one another. I'm going to talk about Perry first, because I knew of his work a year or two before Darger's.
        I studied Grayson Perry for an independent project in my sculpture class a few years back and absolutely fell in love with his work. Known lovingly as "The Tranny Potter"; Perry won the Turner Prize in 2003 (he was 43), the first time it had been awarded for ceramic work (Claire, his alter-ego, accepted the award).
        Perry's vessels, which feature scenes of sexuality, violence, drug abuse, and war coupled with seemingly innocent characters, flowers and activities such as sports, seem entirely unobtrusive before further inspection. This is completely intentional, and a big piece of why ceramics and earthenware are the chosen medium for Perry, who has described his method of presenting so innocuous an object with such strong imagery as a "guerilla tactic".
        Perry's work is often autobiographical, particularly referencing his upbringing and sexuality. His alter-ego Claire makes appearances in his pieces as well (Perry, who has a wife and daughter, identifies as a transvestite).
        I go back and forth between which I think is cooler, the topics of and concepts behind Perry's work (particularly his reasons for making vessels) or the visual quality of the pieces. Perry does not use a wheel, rather the method of coiling clay into the desired shape, which I remember reading (but can not back up with an actual quote as this was years ago and I cannot find where I read it) is very intentional and important to him. His pieces have layers and layers of imagery, with detailed illustrations, text, multiple glazings, photo transfers, and gold leaf. His style of illustrating is also extremely appealing to me (and one of the ways I relate him to Darger, along with his content, which will become apparent once I have written about Darger as well).

To see a good collection of Perry's vessels (and other work) along with an extensive amount of information on him, visit
The Saatchi Gallery's website (they collect him)
The Victoria Miro website (they represent him).

"I like the whole iconography of pottery. It hasn't got any big pretensions to being great public works of art, and no matter how brash a statement I make, on a pot it will always have certain humility"



images: saatchi-gallery.co.uk