Unpopular Culture

Grayson Perry selects from the Arts Council Collection

Grayson Perry was catapulted into the public consciousness in 2003 when he won the Turner Prize, accepting his award dressed as his transvestite alter ego, Claire. A unique figure in the international art scene, Perry is best known for his ceramic coil pots which he adorns with subject matter ranging from his childhood in Essex, his transvestism, and his reflections on British art and society. Perhaps less recognized is Perry’s role as a curator. This exhibition highlights this recent aspect of Perry’s practice and offers a unique and personal view of the Arts Council Collection. Perry’s selection will be presented alongside new work made by him in response to the Collection.

Following the recent success of The Charms of Lincolnshire – a critically acclaimed exhibition selected by the artist from the museums of Lincolnshire – Perry has now turned his attention to the Arts Council Collection: the largest loan collection of modern and contemporary British art in the world. Unsurprisingly for an artist who has always positioned himself on the margins of the art world, the ‘tranny potter from Essex’ has found himself drawn to art made ‘before British art became fashionable’.

Perry’s selection features modern British paintings, sculpture and photographs that embody a quiet nostalgia and restraint. Rather than retreat into a world of rose-tinted romanticism, Perry presents an alternative view of British art, one that reassesses the relationship between past and present, and questions the boundaries between the radical, the conservative, and the radically conservative.

Tour Information

This exhibition toured to the following venues:

10 May – 6 July 2008
De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea

19 July – 14 September 2008
Harris Museum, Preston

27 September – 8 November 2008
Royal Museum and Art Gallery, Canterbury

29 November 2008 – 4 January 2009
DLI Museum & Durham Art Gallery, Durham

16 January – 15 March 2009
Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton

21 March – 10 May 2009
Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth

16 May – 5 July 2009
Scarborough Art Gallery, Scarborough

18 July – 25 October 2009
Longside Gallery, Wakefield

7 November 2009 – 3 January 2010
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath

23 January - 13 March 2010
Mead Gallery, Coventry

For more information please contact Alison Maun alison.maun@southbankcentre.co.uk

Image credit: copyright Eric Great Rex