Grayson Perry facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Grayson Perry
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Perry in 2007
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| Born | 24 March 1960 Bicknacre, Chelmsford, Essex, England
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| Education | Portsmouth University |
| Known for | Fine art |
| Spouse(s) | Philippa Perry |
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| Patron(s) | Charles Saatchi |
Sir Grayson Perry CBE RA (born 24 March 1960) is an English artist. He is known for his ceramic vases, tapestries, as well as his observations of the contemporary arts scene.
Perry's vases have classical forms and are decorated in bright colours, depicting subjects at odds with their attractive appearance. There is a strong autobiographical element in his work, in which images of Perry as "Claire", his female alter-ego, and "Alan Measles", his childhood teddy bear, often appear. He has made a number of documentary television programmes and has curated exhibitions. He has published two autobiographies, Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl (2007) and The Descent of Man (2016), written and illustrated a graphic novel, Cycle of Violence (2012), written a book about art, Playing to the Gallery (2014), and published his illustrated Sketchbooks (2016). Various books describing his work have been published. In 2013 he delivered the BBC Reith Lectures.
Perry has had solo exhibitions at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan. His work is held in the permanent collections of the British Council and Arts Council, Crafts Council, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Tate and Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Perry was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003. He was interviewed about the win and resulting press in Sarah Thornton's Seven Days in the Art World. In 2008 he was ranked number 32 in The Daily Telegraph's list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture". In 2012, Perry was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork—the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover—to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life.
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Early life
Born into a working-class family, Perry was four years old when his father, Tom, left the family. His mother later remarried, but his stepfather was violent. Subsequently, he spent an unhappy childhood moving between his parents and created a fantasy world based around his teddy in order to cope with his sense of anxiety. He considers that a person's early experiences are important in shaping their aesthetic.
Perry spent a short period of his school life at King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford (KEGS). Following the encouragement of his art teacher, he decided to study art. He did an art foundation course at Braintree College of Further Education from 1978 to 1979, followed by a BA in fine art at Portsmouth College of Art and Design (now the University of Portsmouth), graduating in 1982. He had an interest in film and exhibited his first piece of pottery at a New Contemporaries show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1980.
Personal life
As of 2010, he lives in north London with his wife, the author and psychotherapist Philippa Perry. They have one daughter, Florence, born in 1992.
In 2015 he was appointed to succeed Kwame Kwei-Armah as chancellor of University of the Arts London.
Perry is a keen mountain biker and motorcyclist.
Work
As well as pottery, Perry has worked in printmaking, drawing, embroidery and other textile work, film and performance.
Ceramics
The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam mounted a solo exhibition of his work in 2002, Guerrilla Tactics. It was partly for this work that he was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003, the first time it was given to a ceramic artist.
Perry's work refers to several ceramic traditions, including Greek pottery and folk art.
Tapestries
Perry created the 15m x 3m The Walthamstow Tapestry in 2009. The large woven tapestry bears hundreds of brand names surrounding large figures in the stages of life from birth to death.
Perry's 2012 TV documentary series All In The Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry, about class "taste" variables, included him making large tapestries, called The Vanity of Small Differences. Their format was inspired by William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress. Of the tapestries, Perry says,
The Vanity of Small Differences consists of six tapestries that tell the story of Tim Rakewell. Some of the characters, incidents and objects I have included I encountered whilst filming All in the Best Possible Taste. The tapestries tell a story of class mobility. I think nothing has such a strong influence on our aesthetic taste as the social class we grow up in.
The sketches were translated using Adobe Photoshop to design the finished images and the tapestries were woven on a computer-controlled loom.
Perry produced a pair of large-scale tapestries for A House for Essex, called The Essex House Tapestries: The Life of Julie Cope in 2015.
Media
Television
He was the subject of a The South Bank Show episode in 2006 and the subject of an Imagine documentary broadcast in November 2011.
His three-part series for Channel 4, All In The Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry, was broadcast in June 2012. The series analysed the ideas of taste held by the different social classes of the UK. Perry explores both male and female culture in each social class and what they buy, in three parts: "Working Class Taste," "Middle Class Taste," and "Upper Class Taste." At the same time, he photographs, and then illustrates his experiences and the people, transcribing them into large tapestries, entitled The Vanity of Small Differences.
In 2014, Perry presented a three-part documentary series for Channel 4, Who Are You?, on identity. In it, he creates diverse portraits for the National Portrait Gallery, London, of ex-MP Chris Huhne, Rylan Clark-Neal from The X Factor, a Muslim convert, and a young transgender man.
In 2016, he presented a series exploring masculinity for Channel 4, Grayson Perry: All Man.
In 2018, Perry explored Rites of Passage in a four-part documentary series on Channel 4. The documentary series focused on death, marriage, birth, and coming of age as Perry compared the way people in the UK dealt with these themes compared to others around the world. Each episode culminated in Perry helping those in the UK to create ceremonies that were appropriate to their own situations.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Perry presented Grayson's Art Club from his home studio alongside his wife Philippa, encouraging viewers to produce and share their own artworks from lockdown. Along with pieces submitted by practising artists and celebrity guests, the public's work went on display at an exhibition in Manchester, however, this did not go ahead due to COVID-19 restrictions. The programme's second series began in February 2021.
In 2020 Channel 4 broadcast the series Grayson Perry's Big American Road Trip. Perry crossed the US on a motorbike, exploring its biggest fault lines, from race to class and identity. As America headed for a presidential election, Perry asked how its growing divisions could be overcome.
Other television and radio appearances also include the BBC's Question Time, HARDtalk, Desert Island Discs, Have I Got News for You and QI.
Writing and lectures
Perry was an arts correspondent for The Times, writing a weekly column until October 2007.
Perry gave the 2013 BBC Reith Lectures. In a series of talks titled Playing to the Gallery, he considered the state of art in the 21st century. The individual lectures, titled "Democracy Has Bad Taste", "Beating the Bounds", "Nice Rebellion, Welcome In!" and "I Found Myself in the Art World", were broadcast in October and November 2013 on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service. He expanded the lectures into a book, Playing to the Gallery: Helping Contemporary Art in its Struggle to Be Understood (2014).
He guest edited an issue of New Statesman in 2014, entitled "The Great White Male Issue".
In 2017 Perry gave the inaugural Orwell Lecture in the North for The Orwell Foundation, entitled "I've read all the academic texts on empathy".
Judging
In 2007 Perry curated an exhibition of art by prisoners and ex-offenders entitled Insider Art at the Institute of Contemporary Arts presented by the Koestler Trust, a charity that promotes art as rehabilitation in prisons, young offenders institutions and secure psychiatric units. He described the artworks as "raw and all the more powerful for that". In 2011 he returned to the annual Koestler Trust exhibition, this time held at London's Southbank Centre and judged the award winners in Art by Offenders with Will Self and Emma Bridgewater.
Television programmes and DVDs
- Why Men Wear Frocks (2005) – produced by Twofour for Channel 4, directed by Neil Crombie. Also on DVD.
- The South Bank Show (2006) – episode 678, season 31. Documentary exploring the life and works of Perry, directed by Robert Bee.
- Grayson Perry and the Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman (2011) – 8 episodes broadcast on BBC One, directed by Neil Crombie and produced by Alan Yentob for Imagine. Follows Perry for more than two years as he prepares for an exhibition at the British Museum, selecting artefacts from the museum's collection and producing new work. Also on DVD.
- Spare Time – produced by Seneca Productions for More4, directed by Neil Crombie. About British peoples' hobbies. Also on DVD.
- All In The Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry (2012) – three-part series produced by Channel 4, directed by Neil Crombie. About British peoples' taste. Perry is shown working on his series of tapestries The Vanity of Small Differences. Also on DVD.
- Who Are You? (2014) – three-part documentary series for Channel 4, directed by Neil Crombie.
- Grayson Perry's Dream House (2015) – for Channel 4, directed by Neil Crombie. On A House for Essex ("Julie's House").
- Born Risky: Grayson Perry (2016) – four-part series for Channel 4, directed by Keith McCarthy.
- Grayson Perry: All Man (2016) – three-part series for Channel 4: 2 episodes directed by Neil Crombie, 1 episode directed by Crombie and Arthur Cary.
- Grayson Perry: Divided Britain (2017) – for Channel 4, directed by Neil Crombie. Perry "calls on a public divided by Brexit to inspire his pots for Leave and Remain".
- Grayson Perry: Rites of Passage (2018) for Channel 4.
- Grayson's Art Club (2020) Commissioning Editor: Shaminder Nahal Production Company: Swan Films (for Channel 4) Executive Producers: Neil Crombie and Joe Evans. (6 × 1-hour episodes).
- Grayson Perry: This England (w/t) (TBA) for Channel 4.
Films made by Perry
- Bungalow Depression (1981) – 3 mins, Standard 8 mm film
- The Green Witch and Merry Diana (1984) – 20 mins, Super 8 film
- The Poor Girl (1985) – 47 mins, Super 8 film
Honours and awards
Perry was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to contemporary art and knighted in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to the arts.
- 2003: Turner Prize
- 2005: Royal Television Society award for best network production for Why Men Wear Frocks (2005)
- 2012: Visual Arts award, South Bank Sky Arts Awards, for The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman at the British Museum.
- 2018: Awarded City Lit fellowship as part of the Mental Wealth Festival
- 2021: Erasmus Prize: "The theme of the Erasmus Prize this year (sc. 2020) is ´The power of the image in the digital era'. At a time when we are constantly bombarded with images, Perry has developed a unique visual language, demonstrating that art belongs to everybody and should not be an elitist affair. Perry receives the prize for the insightful way he tackles questions of beauty and craftsmanship while addressing wider social and cultural issues.
Collections
- British Council Collection and the Arts Council Collection: The Vanity of Small Differences series of tapestries
- Crafts Council, London: Mad Kid's Bedroom Wall Pot (1996) and two tapestries from The Essex House Tapestries: The Life of Julie Cope (2015) ("A Perfect Match" (2015) and "In Its Familiarity, Golden" (2015))
- Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, UK: Comfort Blanket tapestry
- Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam
- Tate, London
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Swindon Museum and Art Gallery
See also
In Spanish: Grayson Perry para niños
