Grayson Perry
How I Thought of Myself
March 22 – April 13, 2002
Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery
526 West 26TH Sreet, Room #213<br> NYC, NY, 10001
T 212.243.3335 F 212.243.1059
gallery@nicoleklagsbrun.com
Grayson Perry has always been seen as a sort of rebellious character in the art world and his career has developed as that of a provocateur, making radical statements about contemporary society through his decorative pots, photographs and drawings.
A preoccupation with the inane seems to permeate much of Grayson Perrys work. At first glance his pots seem to mimic the shape and form of ancient storage jars and earthenware vessels. Using the age-old Greek tradition of storytelling in the round, each of Perrys narratives develops in a circular fashion around the vase. His surfaces are alive, with color, texture and applications of luster and glaze. Yet, while one may expect Perrys stories to be merely decorative, they are instead full of a dizzying range of vulgarity and seduction. His work takes in an impressive span of issues from the family to the art world, fashion, urban living and even the occasional celebrity or boring cool person (as Perry refers to them). Perry delights in straying from normal classifications and it is through his intimate confessions and witty social commentary that his work finds its place in the contemporary art world. According to Perry, sincerity is the most subversive tool in! art.
Yet it is humor and a very British style of satire that binds form and content in Perrys work Grayson Perrys alter ego Claire is a six-foot tall blond who is one of the principal characters throughout his work. In How I Thought of Myself, Perry depicts himself as a 14-year-old boy dressed in drag against the backdrop of rural London. In this intimate confession we see Perry at his most vulnerable. However Claire is not merely a construct of Perrys imagination. An independent personality, who spilt from Perry around the time of puberty Claire often attends gallery openings and has even been seen protesting on the steps of the Tate Gallery. Perry describes his alter ego as a forty-something women living in a Barratt home, the kind of woman who eats ready meals and can just about sew on a button.
Grayson Perry will have a retrospective at the Stedelijk Musuem in Amsterdam this spring, which will run from May 18 through August 2002. Perrys work was most recently exhibited at the Armory Show in New York and at the Saatchi Gallery in London this past fall.
For more information go to: www.e-flux.com/site2002/index.phtml?client=welcome/ nicole-klagsbrun
