Standing out in a world of unpopular culture
GRAYSON Perry is in reflective mood.
Some months ago he was asked by the Arts Council to curate an exhibition from its 7,000-strong collection.
There was no brief. He was simply given a catalogue and complete free rein.
The result is Unpopular Culture, a retrospective of British art between the 1940s and '80s, before the likes of Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and the rest of the YBAs made their fortunes on the back of formaldehyde pickled sharks and unmade beds.
A mixture of more than 70 photographs, paintings and sculptures, the exhibition is gently nostalgic for the time before reality television decided the next celebrity, before Botox was available in a lunch hour and before water came in bottles.
This was a world where grim reality intruded on the everyday, a world where Perry grew up in a working-class family from Chelmsford, Essex.
"I had no preconceptions about the kind of exhibition I wanted to create," he says. "I just sat down with the catalogue and picked out works which said something to me. There are three distinct categories – the paintings, the photographs and the bronzes – but they all share the same subtle, sensitive, lyrical and quiet mood. It's a complete contrast to today when much art can seem like shouty advertisements for concepts or personalities.
"I also felt a need to confront the hackneyed version of the recent past that is the default mode of the nostalgia industry. Take the swinging sixties – this psychedelic, Mini-driving, mini-skirt wearing, Beatles-loving supposed glory age which I suspect was really only enjoyed by a minority. This exhibition shows another side."
Spanning the era from the 1940s to Thatcherite Britain of the 1980s, the selection includes work by LS Lowry, Frank Auerbach, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Paul Nash and Martin Parr.
Arriving at Scarborough Art Gallery on Saturday as part of its national tour, some critics have accused the selection of being too gloomy.
Perry doesn't entirely disagree, but with the brave new world of unbridled consumerism having all but crumbled, he says it is probably not a bad time to look back.
"I would never give myself credit for predicting the recession, but the exhibition does have more of a resonance about it now than I ever thought it would," he says. "The art world was not immune to what was going on. It's been a wake-up call for everyone and there is something quite reflective about the work which is on display."
Perry recognises that he was among those to benefit from young artists becoming playthings for billionaire collectors. Having started his career living in a London squat and enrolling in pottery evening classes, his ceramics now sell for thousands.
"One of the things that really appealed to me about curating this exhibition was that it was going to tour places that aren't necessarily on the arts circuit," he says.
"When I'd finished selecting the pieces, I sat back and thought 'right I better do something myself'. It would have felt a bit of a swizz if I hadn’t contributed anything to the exhibition. There are two of my pieces in the show and I also designed a headscarf. It’s a bit of a souvenir for people to buy, but for me it’s also a symbol of womanhood, particularly of my parents’ generation.”
When Perry first arrived on the art scene, he had to confront the accepted snobbery that pots weren’t and never would be works of art. His answer was to simply ignore his critics and continue to produce the traditional ceramics emblazoned with the shocking and often disturbing images which have become his trademark. “A lot of crafts people want the art world to come to them, but that’s not how it works,” he says. “You have to be in there producing work to influence anyone. You have to talk the language of the art world. The art world doesn’t owe anyone a living.
“In truth, London’s art circle is a little bit in a village, but they still let an Essex transvestite into its ranks, so it can’t be that elitist.”
Not only did they let Perry in, they embraced him and in 2003 awarded him the Turner Prize. In return Perry turned up to the ceremony dressed in a pink party dress.
“It’s a handy tool,” he says of his liking for cross-dressing. “It made me stand out. I’m not sorry I became known as the transvestite potter.”
Alongside the ceramics, Perry also works with tapestry, but it’s the blend of the contemporary with the ancient which inspires him.
“I like the fact that from a few feet away one of my pieces looks like an antique vase,” he says. “I like the fact that it’s only the closer you get that you realise it’s saying something quite different. For me, exploring those different messages are what art is all about.”
l Unpopular Culture will be at Scar-borough Art Gallery until July 5.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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