Inspirational Movers and Shakers | This Is Grayson Perry

Grayson Perry, CBE is an English artist, known mainly for his ceramic vases and cross-dressing. He is also a national treasure In England. Starting out his career as a controversial “transvestite potter”, he has since become a Turner-Prize-winning artist; BAFTA-winning documentary maker; author; social commentator; curator; Reith lecturer; not to mention a devoted husband and father. His vases have classical forms and are decorated in bright colors, 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, often appear. He was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003. The reason why Grayson is being talked about is simple, it is because of 100% pure admiration and respect for the choices that he has made for himself and with zero regrets or excuses. Grayson is different from the “norm” (whatever that me be) everyday man and he is authentic and true to himself. One thing he isn’t is someone who is not true to himself in a world where unusual is typically a hard path to follow in life. With his style, Grayson is not preaching some outrageous dogma that we either feel sorry for or that he is trying to sway others into being like himself through means of fashion, politics, or personal opinion. Grayson is Grayson and he strives to focus on his work, and is himself, and lives his life without excuses. He has does this and achieved milestones in ways many would break and simply fail at. I appreciate what appears to be passion for his creativity. His work and educational accomplishments are truly focused on his desires to create and educate on the strong self acceptance and self expression. Family seems to be key in his happiness and the family unit for Grayson is top priority when so many people like him, who are different, have not experienced or been able to have in life. I look forward to finding out more about his art and the man who is different to most but a role model for myself and many others. He frolics in art and creativity and mingle with royalty but deep down is true to himself and his family. Read more about Grayson Perry and his works here on Wikipedia. He is very cool and talented and I suspect we will continue to see his work and social life in the mainstream press.

Buckingham Palace has played host to some flamboyant characters over the years. So perhaps it was unsurprising that barely a courtly eyebrow was raised when transvestite potter Grayson Perry collected his CBE from Prince Charles in a midnight blue dress and jacket, heels, and fabulously over-the-top black hat.

Indeed, when asked about what Perry joyfully described as his ‘Italian mother of the bride outfit’, the Queen’s official spokesman replied with only the merest hint of a smile: ‘His attire was entirely appropriate.’ You may click to the story here at DailyMail.com.

Saint Claire 37 wanks accross Northern Spain

Grayson Perry
Saint Claire 37
2003
Earthenware
84 x 55 x 55 cm

Perry’s urns are rendered with an incomprehensible master-craft: their surfaces richly textured from designs marked into the clay, followed by intricately complicated glazing and photo-transfer techniques. Perry makes ceramic pots, hand-stitched quilts, and outrageous dress designs, creating a cosmopolitan folk-art.

Grayson Perry
Punters in the Snow
1999
40 x 25 x 25 cm

“We’re only here once and I want to get as much out of it possible. And as an artist, my job is to be as much “me” as possible.”

Grayson Perry
Barbaric Splendour
2003
Glazed Ceramic
67 x 35 cm

His form and content is always incongruous: classic Greecian-like urns bearing friezes of car-wrecks, cell-phones, supermodels, as well as more dark and literary scenes often incorporating auto-biographical references.

Grayson Perry
We Are What We Buy
2000
50 x 22x 22 cm

Grayson Perry
Golden Ghosts
2000
Earthenware
65 x 39 x 39 cm

Unhappy expressions on the little girls’ faces in Golden Ghosts contrast sharply with the idyllic country cottages stenciled in the background. Perry often uses found images to create a mood or a tension – the exceptionally sad image of the seated girl is that of a child affected by the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station disaster. This evocative work hints at a familiarity with psychotherapy, made at a time when Perry was coming to terms with his own unhappy past. Here is more work by Grayson Perry at SaatchGallery.com.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2004

Victoria Miro Gallery, London

Collection Intervention, Tate St. Ives, St. Ives

2002
Guerilla Tactics, Barbican Art Gallery, London,

Guerilla Tactics, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

2000
Sensation, Laurent Delaye Gallery,

1996-7
Anthony d’Offay Gallery, London

1994
Anthony d’Offay Gallery, London

Clara Scremini Gallery, Paris

1991-2
David Gill Gallery, London

1991
Garth Clark Gallery, New York

1990
Birch & Conran, London

1988
Birch & Conran, London

1987
Birch & Conran, London

1986
The Minories, Colchester, Essex

1985
James Birch Gallery, London

1984
James Birch Gallery, London

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2004
A Secret History of Clay from Gauguin to Gormley, Tate Liverpool

2003
The Turner Prize, Tate Britain, London

For the Record: Drawing Contemporary Life, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver

Thatcher, The Blue Gallery , London

2001-03
The East Wing Collection, Courtauld Institute, London

2001
Carts and Rafts, Camberwell College, London

2001-02
Sense of Occasion, MAC, Birmingham

2001
New Labour, Saatchi Gallery, London
Sense of Occasion, Birmingham and other centres around UK
La Altra Brittania Tecla Sala, Barcelona
Self Portraya, Group show at Laurent Delaye Gallery, London

2000
Protest and Survive, Whitechapel Gallery, London
British Art Show 5 curated by the Hayward Gallery touring to Edinburgh (Scottish
National Gallery of Modern Art, Royal Botanical Garden, City Art Centre, Talbot Rice
Art Gallery, Stills Gallery, Fruit Market Gallery), Southampton (Southampton City Art
Gallery, John Hansard Gallery, Millais Gallery, Southampton Institute), Cardiff
(National Museum of Wales, Centre for Visual Arts, Chapter), Birmingham
(Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Ikon Gallery)

1999
Plate Show, Collins Gallery, Glasgow
Contained Narrative, Garth Clark Gallery, New York
Hydra Foundation, Greece
541 Vases, Pots, Sculptures and Services, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Decadence, Crafts Council, London

1998-99
Over the Top, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, touring show

1998
Glazed Expressions, Orleans House

1997-98
Craft, Richard Salmon Gallery, London, Kettles Yard, Cambridge

1997-90
Objects of Our Time, Crafts Council, London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Belfast, Cardiff,
American Crafts Museum, New York

1996-97
Hot Off The Press, Tullie House, Carlisle, Glasgow, Norwich, Croydon Clock Tower,
Crafts Council, London

1996
Indigo Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida
Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London
Philippe Rizzo Gallery, Paris

1993-95
The Raw and the Cooked, Barbican Art Gallery, London and touring to Museum of
Modern Art, Oxford, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery Swansea, Shigarake Ceramic Cultural
Park, Japan, Museum of Dunkirk

1992
Fine Cannibals, Oldham Art Gallery and touring to University of Lancaster, Stockport
Art Gallery, Warrington Museum and Art Gallery

1991-92
Essex Ware, Chelmsford and tour to Konigsburg, Germany and Amiens, France

1990
Words and Volume, Garth Clark Gallery, New York

1989
Nishi Azabu Wall, Tokyo (commission by Nigel Coates)

1988
Read Stremmel Gallery, San Antonio

1986
Mandelzoon, Rome

1985
Gallozi e La Placa, New York

1983
Ian Birksted Gallery, London

1981-82
Young Contemporaries, ICA, London