Grayson Perry is an English contemporary artist, writer and broadcaster. He was born in Chelmsford, Essex in 1960. Perry studied at Braintree College of Further Education from 1978 to 1979 and graduated from Portsmouth Polytechnic in 1982 with a BA in Fine Art.
Grayson Perry works in a variety of mediums but is best known for his ceramic vases, tapestries and transvestism. The artist is celebrated for his acute observations of everyday British life, drawing us in with his caustic wit, sentiment and nostalgia as well as anger or fear. In his artwork Perry tackles universal subjects such as gender, sexuality, identity, social status and religion.
Perry works with traditional media such as ceramics, bronze, cast iron, printmaking and tapestry. He is fascinated by how objects accrue emotional and intellectual baggage over time. He uses traditional methods to make his pots and the vases often have classical forms. The artist refers to several ceramic traditions, including Greek pottery and folk art. He employs a range of techniques such as sgraffito drawings, embossing, handwritten words, stencilled texts, photographic transfers and rich glazes. This process creates animated and intricate surfaces. Perry's detailed pots often depict subjects at odds with their deeply seductive appearance. Only when the viewer is up close to the artwork do they witness narratives that might allude to dark subjects such as sado-masochism, child abuse or environmental catastrophe. There is a discord between the conventional forms of his vessels and the depictions that adorn them. Perry adeptly uses an apparently benign and conservative medium such as ceramics to convey challenging and difficult concepts. The artist uses the seductive qualities of ceramics and other art forms to make stealthy comments about our society, its indulgences as well as its injustices.
Perry's tapestries play with an ancient, allegorical art form that is traditionally associated with grand houses where classical myths, religious scenes, historical events or epic battles are depicted. The artist uses this medium to elevate the quotidian dramas of modern British life. Politics, history, consumerism and art history play their part and are all part and parcel of Grayson Perry's artwork.
There is also a very strong autobiographical element to Perry's artwork based on his childhood, his family and cross dressing. Images of Perry as 'Claire', his female alter-ego, and 'Alan Measles', his childhood teddy bear, often appear. He uses imagery and text to chronicle social concerns, his own formative experiences and to tell the story of Claire. The tone of his narratives is psychologically complex and insightful. Grayson Perry is a fantastic chronicler of modern life and these autobiographical elements are delivered with questions regarding taste and class, decorum and décor and the status of the artist against that of the artisan.
Grayson Perry lives and works in London, UK. The artist has curated many exhibitions and these include the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London, UK (2018 and 2022) and The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman, British Museum, London, UK (2011 to 2012). He has written various books and has made several Channel 4 television series and documentaries. In 2013 Perry delivered The Reith Lectures on BBC Radio 4.
Grayson Perry won the Turner Prize in 2003 receiving the prize dressed as Claire. He was elected a Royal Academician in 2012. Perry was awarded a CBE in the 2013 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to contemporary art. In 2023 he was appointed a Knighthood for services to the arts in the King's New Year Honours.
Grayson Perry has had major solo exhibitions at various institutions including The National Museum, Oslo, Norway (2022-2023); Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, Netherlands (2022); Manchester Art Gallery, UK (2021), The Holburne Museum, Bath, UK (2020-2021), La Monnaie de Paris, France (2018-2019); Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland (2018); The Serpentine Galleries, London, UK (2017); Arnolfini, Bristol (2017); ARoS Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark (2016) and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia (2015-2016). Earlier solo exhibitions include the Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg (2008); 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2007); Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, USA (2006); Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK (2002) and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2002).
Works by the artist are held in museum collections worldwide, including the British Council, Arts Council and Crafts Council in the UK; Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK; The British Museum, London, UK; Tate Collection, London, UK; Stedelijk Museum; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, Netherlands; Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, USA; Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; amongst many others.