Good advice from Grayson Perry whose
"Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman" exhibition is currently on at The British Museum. Most people know all about Grayson Perry these days – or they do if they are interested in modern art: transvestite winner of the Turner Prize, boy from Chelmsford who made good, the man who made pottery hip with his traditionally shaped but outrageously decorated pots, Harley rider who sometimes wears biker’s leathers and sometimes dresses as a six year old girl on her way to a party . . . And if you’ve ever heard him speak (he came to do a talk while I was at Camberwell) you’ll know that he is also warm, funny, intelligent and very likeable.
I’ve seen quite a lot of Grayson’s work over the years, and well there is a lot you can see in the British Museum for free anyway, so I was thinking of giving this show a miss. However several people had said how very good it was – and so I decided to find out for myself. I loved it! It’s an eclectic mix of artefacts from the BM collection and pieces made (or conceived and commissioned) by Grayson. But even with the BM pieces Grayson’s comments explaining his reasons for selection that piece make it very much an exhibition about him, his life, his taste and his view of the world. So it’s a funny old mishmash of stuff and Grayson is his usual bold, irreverent but above all truly authentic self.
Plus I was commissioned to produce some pendants and earrings (for the exhibition shop) based on the love tokens on display which were not only singled out for praise by GP (so I’m told) but which have sold out – hurrah!
