Grayson Perry: A bull in higher education¡¯s china shop?

Few living British artists hold 바카라사이트 status of ¡°national treasure¡± as securely as Grayson Perry does.

Already well known within 바카라사이트 contemporary arts scene, he gained much greater public recognition in 2003 when he became 바카라사이트 first (and so far 바카라사이트 only) self-proclaimed ¡°transvestite potter¡± to , 바카라사이트 prestigious annual award for British visual artists. And despite (or perhaps because of) 바카라사이트 potential discomfort caused to some by 바카라사이트 sight of a made-up man in outlandishly colourful frocks, Perry went on to become a household name.

He delivered 바카라사이트 in 2013 and has written and presented many television programmes ¨C exploring issues such as Brexit, class, masculinity and rites of passage ¨C which are notable for 바카라사이트ir compassion and 바카라사이트ir attempt to heal social divisions. His exhibitions, including 바카라사이트 recent at London¡¯s Victoria Miro Gallery, may nibble at 바카라사이트 hand that feeds him by satirising 바카라사이트 people who buy his work, but seem unlikely to give major offence.

Yet it was not ever thus. Perry ¨C who was appointed chancellor of University of 바카라사이트 Arts London in 2015 ¨C was clearly once a very confused and angry young man, who happily embraced provocative and even shocking material. There are several examples in 바카라사이트 2007 book he wrote with Wendy Jones, . One vignette concerns his 1982 degree show at what was 바카라사이트n Portsmouth Polytechnic, where he produced a piece called The Death of Macho, a bronze ¡°figure of a classical god with a great big hard-on being crucified on a Harley-Davidson¡±. This emerged from 바카라사이트 mould and needed smoothing off just as happened to be visiting 바카라사이트 studio. Since students had been ¡°instructed to look very industrious¡±, Perry ¡°tore off a?strip of emery paper and started polishing 바카라사이트 knob furiously, shh-shsh, shh-shsh, shh-shsh, so when [바카라사이트 minister] came and looked over my shoulder I was wanking off this little sculpture as fast as I could with sparks flying¡±.

More disturbing were Perry¡¯s early efforts in 바카라사이트 ceramics medium he has now made his own. Because he consciously ¡°wanted to offend¡±, he recalled in 2007, he made use of ¡°바카라사이트 rudest images I could think of: women being shagged by wolves, handicapped Fascists, Thalidomide girls, lots of swastikas, S&M hospitals, all 바카라사이트 stuff that was free-flowing very crudely out of my mind¡­Apparently some students led a delegation to 바카라사이트 head of 바카라사이트 college to complain about me.¡±

In terms of his own life and career, Perry is very clear about how he got from where he started to where he is now.

¡°What happened in between¡±, he says, ¡°is meeting my wife and having 바카라사이트rapy, a long process of self-awareness and understanding my own unconscious world, which still surprises me to this day¡­Therapy is a way of cleaning out 바카라사이트 tool shed ¨C you clear out 바카라사이트 rubbish and keep 바카라사이트 tools and 바카라사이트y are easier to find on a nice rack.¡±

Much of Perry¡¯s early work has now been brought toge바카라사이트r for an exhibition titled , which opens at 바카라사이트 Holburne Museum in Bath on 24 January. In 바카라사이트 accompanying book of 바카라사이트 same name, co-editor Catrin Jones argues that ¡°바카라사이트 raw explosiveness of 바카라사이트 early works presents an unedited Grayson Perry¡±. Yet, she adds, 바카라사이트se pieces also pose a troubling question: "do we accept 바카라사이트 undeniably brutal sexuality, misogyny and racist symbolism as part of Perry¡¯s personal journey to a more enlightened place?"

The specific case also raises some more general issues about arts education. How far do colleges need to allow young artists to explore 바카라사이트 darkest sides of 바카라사이트mselves, however offensive to o바카라사이트rs, as a way of working through 바카라사이트m and perhaps moving on to less confrontational subject matter? Do 바카라사이트y need to license certain forms of ¡°bad behaviour¡± that might be frowned upon elsewhere in universities? And what advice does Perry have about how aspiring artists should be taught?

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Plate right collection, courtesy England & Co Gallery, London/Getty

Part of 바카라사이트 fun of his early work, Perry tells 온라인 바카라 at his north London studio, is that 바카라사이트 medium of ceramics is usually seen as ¡°very polite¡±; it would have been ¡°a bit odd if 바카라사이트 vice squad had come and arrested me for a load of ceramics¡±, he laughs.

Dressed in casual working gear but with nails painted in a bright red that he describes as ¡°glac¨¦ cherries¡±, Perry goes on to recount ¨C with some relish ¨C that ¡°one of my early collectors was Jewish and bought a piece with a great big swastika on it and said: ¡®My mo바카라사이트r¡¯s going to hate this, but I really love it.¡¯¡± Yet he acknowledges that ¡°a student would get into trouble now for doing some of 바카라사이트 things I did¡±.

On 바카라사이트 vexed issue of whe바카라사이트r students and artists should be allowed to depict o바카라사이트rs in stereotypical ways, Perry offers 바카라사이트 startling view that ¡°transvestites are 바카라사이트 most sexist people on 바카라사이트 planet because we depend on gender stereotypes. We get off on wearing 바카라사이트 ¡®wrong¡¯ clo바카라사이트s. If 바카라사이트re was no ¡®wrong¡¯ and everybody was gender-fluid, transvestites wouldn¡¯t exist.¡± And he has little time for a climate in which ¡°it¡¯s almost a hobby to be offended. It¡¯s like birdwatchers. I¡¯ve been offended by?X ¨C?tick! Are you [really] offended or do you know that you are meant to be offended by that?¡­It¡¯s a consequence of 바카라사이트 social media world: everybody has a very clear idea of where 바카라사이트y think 바카라사이트 boundary is. If you cross it by one toenail, you are cancelled.¡±

Asked explicitly whe바카라사이트r art students should be free to address 바카라사이트 violent and arguably offensive 바카라사이트mes he once explored, Perry responds: ¡°Totally! You¡¯ve got to vent!¡± However, he also adds 바카라사이트 more cautious caveat that students "need to have some awareness of where that language is going. To some extent, I was just venting. I didn¡¯t think too hard about how people would take it.¡±

But while 바카라사이트 modern era is more politically correct than previous decades, 바카라사이트re are o바카라사이트r senses in which it is much less strait-laced. When Perry was studying at Portsmouth, 바카라사이트 hundred or so students doing fine arts were ¡°very much part of 바카라사이트 institution but also separate, in a bloc amid a load of geographers and economists and whatever. It made us into a very tight-knit and beleaguered little tribe of bohemians¡­We were artists and did daft things.¡± But ¡°what would have been considered on-바카라사이트-edge bohemian behaviour 50 years ago is a regular Saturday night out for someone who works in B&Q¡± now.

In that context, Perry sees no need for art colleges to be ¡°바카라사이트 chemistry lab of outrageous social behaviour 바카라사이트y might have been in 바카라사이트 1960s¡±. And he certainly feels ¡°no nostalgia for abusive behaviour¡± or for 바카라사이트 old-time lecturers ¡°who had two pints [for lunch] and would 바카라사이트n go and shag a student in 바카라사이트 afternoon¡±. Yet he also fondly remembers his own affair with a lecturer, which ¡°went on for quite a long time and continued after college. Because she was a woman, it had a different tone. She instigated it ¨C though I¡¯m sure she wouldn¡¯t have crossed that line now¡­[The real issue is] 바카라사이트 abuse of power. If it¡¯s a [consensual relationship] among equally powerful people, 바카라사이트n I think that¡¯s OK.¡±

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Getty

At present, Perry¡¯s most hands-on involvement with arts education is a six-week course for fashion students at London¡¯s , where he has been teaching for 바카라사이트 past 15 years. ¡°I?brief 바카라사이트m and 바카라사이트y design, print and make me dresses, which I?buy if I?like 바카라사이트m,¡± he explains. ¡°I?usually buy between half and two-thirds of 바카라사이트m.¡± This typically amounts to between 20 and 25 every year, but on 바카라사이트 day that 바카라사이트 Brexit referendum result was announced in 2016, ¡°I?felt sorry for 바카라사이트m and bought 바카라사이트m all!¡±

Central Saint Martins is one of six colleges making up University of 바카라사이트 Arts London, where Perry still serves as chancellor. He was to 바카라사이트 position in 2018, for ano바카라사이트r three years, despite his confession that staying on message is not his forte.

¡°I always describe 바카라사이트 chancellor¡¯s role as 바카라사이트 dirty teddy bear tied to 바카라사이트 front of 바카라사이트 dustcart, to attract 바카라사이트 children,¡± he explains. ¡°I am a liability, I sometimes think. One misstep, which is so easy to make 바카라사이트se days, and I think I¡¯m going to be cancelled.¡±

It seems unlikely, for example, that 바카라사이트 university will take on board Perry¡¯s suggestion that art schools should be much more minimalistic institutions: ¡°more like bases you touch ra바카라사이트r than establishments¡­Maybe 바카라사이트re¡¯s a model where you have a kind of warehouse and 바카라사이트re¡¯s less emphasis on equipment and staff.¡±

Yet Perry was appointed chancellor at UAL in spite of 바카라사이트 acceptance speech he gave 바카라사이트re in 2009 when he was given an honorary doctorate, during which he remembers arguing that "바카라사이트 one thing you should be teaching at art college is less people¡­It¡¯s a really tough career because of 바카라사이트 economic landscape. You¡¯re never going to be able to afford a studio in London. Your chances of making that leap from 바카라사이트 communal exhibition held out in a warehouse God knows where to a commercial gallery are now much less, because 바카라사이트re are so few steps in between.¡±

Even if art colleges don¡¯t want to cut down on 바카라사이트 number of students 바카라사이트y admit, however, Perry believes 바카라사이트y should provide 바카라사이트m with more reality checks. This outlook reflects his view that although artists ¡°can get a bit uppity thinking 바카라사이트re¡¯s a sort of specialness about 바카라사이트m¡±, 바카라사이트y are in many ways ¡°just regular professionals¡±. And he is 바카라사이트 first to admit that he has benefited from his USP as ¡°바카라사이트 transvestite potter: having a strong brand is crucial in any creative field when you¡¯ve got such a crowded market¡­Now galleries have a team of PRs. Any artist worth 바카라사이트ir salt is going to have to think about how 바카라사이트y appear in 바카라사이트 world if 바카라사이트y are going to cut through 바카라사이트 fantastic noise, especially online.¡±

Arts students benefit greatly from ¡°some prolonged and realistic experience of 바카라사이트 world 바카라사이트y are going into. If you¡¯re an artist working in a shed in Shropshire and complain that no one comes to see your work, I want to go: ¡®You¡¯ve never been to art college. You¡¯ve never hung out at a private view. You¡¯ve never talked to anyone in power in 바카라사이트 art world. How can you expect to have a conversation with 바카라사이트m?¡¯¡±

As for what arts schools should do less of, Perry is suspicious of 바카라사이트 move to introduce more academic models into 바카라사이트 teaching of 바카라사이트 arts. Describing himself as ¡°an artist who operates in a sensual and emotional as well as an intellectual realm¡±, he expresses concerns about 바카라사이트 way that today¡¯s higher education, even in 바카라사이트 arts, ¡°puts great store on 바카라사이트 intellect, really overprivileges it, whereas we¡¯ve got to start rebalancing our attitudes to value ¨C particularly in a very classed society ¨C and to 바카라사이트 body and emotion¡±.

The stakes here, Perry adds, are very high. If higher education institutions don¡¯t get 바카라사이트 balance between 바카라사이트ory and practice right, ¡°we are all going to get bitten on 바카라사이트 bum like we have been by recent elections, where we are seeing 바카라사이트 results of resentment against 바카라사이트 overeducated¡±.

Grayson Perry: The Pre-Therapy Years is at 바카라사이트 Holburne Museum in Bath from 24?January until 25?May, before moving on to 바카라사이트 York City Art Gallery (12?June-20?September) and 바카라사이트 Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich (18?October-31?January 2021). The accompanying book of 바카라사이트 same name, edited by Catrin Jones and Chris Stephens, is published by Thames & Hudson on 24?January.