Shades of Grayson (From Elmbridge Guardian)

Shades of Grayson

4:49pm Thursday 26th November 2009

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Ahead of a Book Now appearance, former Turner Prize-winner Grayson Perry spoke to Will Gore about a new book that charts his lengthy career.

Grayson Perry was launched into the public consciousness after winning the Turner Prize in 2003. His ceramic vases, adorned with explicit images of sex, violence and child abuse, garnered him plenty of column inches, as did the fact he often appears in public as his female alter-ego, Claire.

Yet Perry was an artist long before the Turner Prize and the press coverage came along and he has now collaborated with writer Jacky Klein to produce a monograph that charts the full sweep of his career.

Perry, or Claire, will be bringing Richmond’s Book Now Festival to a close on Monday when he discusses the book with Klein at Orleans House Gallery and he hopes its publication will give people a chance to discover his full body of work.

“It is my paper milestone,” he says. “It is a big thing for an artist, especially someone like me whose work is not in public collections and who is relatively unprolific. It is a chance for people to see what I do and I think they will be surprised I have done so many different things over a long period.

“It is weird seeing this proper art book about me that is going to end up on people’s shelves. There might not be another book along in a hurry so it stands as a testament to what I have done and it will be seen by a wider range of people that come to the exhibitions.”

Aside from the ceramics, Perry has created prints, textiles and drawings throughout a career that began in the early 80s. He estimates he has produced more than 700 different works and, of those, about 150 are featured in the monograph, with the recurring subjects and themes his art has encapsulated over the years being easily identifiable.

“I basically make the same piece of art again and again, like most artists,” he explains. “I was looking at a book of a photographer’s work the other day and you almost see his themes laid out in childhood.

“The interests for me are outlined in the book – religion, folk culture, gender, consumerism, the art world itself. I continually go back to those themes.”

The images of the work are accompanied by essays by Klein and commentaries written by Perry. Is he comfortable putting the ideas behind his work into words? There are many artists who avoid explaining their work at all costs.

“Maybe they can’t,” he suggests. “I’m not one of those artists who says: ‘If I can explain it then I wouldn’t have made it’. For me that is probably a lame excuse because they are inarticulate.”

Although Perry says he has “got out of the habit of reading novels”, he remains a regular buyer of art books and he is hopeful his monograph lives up to what he believes makes for a successful one.

“Art books are the one thing I will always spend money on,” he says. “I buy one a fortnight. I have an overall feeling for art books and there is a classic look.

“The best art book is when you don’t notice how it is designed but it has a lavish feel and that is what we have achieved with mine. It is not too gimmicky.”

Audience members at the Book Now will have a chance to ask Perry questions and he insists he is happy to answer whatever is thrown at him.

As a caveat, though, he says he abhors people who arrive at such events with pre-prepared statements masquerading as questions.

As an artist whose work has the power to amuse, confound and appal in equal measure, Perry is clearly happier when the statement-making is left up to him.

Grayson Perry and Jacky Klein, The Coach House, Orleans House Gallery, November 30, 7.30pm, £9 (£8), 020 8831 6469.

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