Pseudo Spiritual Clap Trap

It was his ceramic vases that first brought Perry to public prominence as a member of the so-called Young British Artist generation, and he was the first ceramic artist to win the Turner Prize. Following the success of his first major solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, in 2002, these works propelled him onto a new global stage. Perry has described himself as a ‘maximalist’, an aesthetic reinforced both in his decorative surfaces as well as his ceramic process itself (G. Perry in J. Klein, Grayson Perry, London, 2009, p. 42). Though created using traditional coiling methods, the vases' virtuosic surfaces deploy a complex variety of additional techniques – from glazing and embossing to incision, relief and photographic transfers – which frequently require several firings. Referencing Greek pottery and folk art traditions, the classical forms of his vases are held in tension with their piercing contemporary narratives. In the present work, this is exemplified through the bold, intersecting imagery, a kaleidoscope of narratives and characters. Cynthia Payne, the brothel keeper and party hostess who made headlines in the 1970s and 1980s is depicted on one side of the vase, juxtaposed with Perry’s emblematic bold lexicon, the words ‘art’ ‘sex’ and ‘god’ emblazon the surface of the ceramic.


‘Being non-triumphal is central to my work. This is one of the things that draws me to vases, which are usually small-scale. They have a humility: they whisper rather than shout'
(G. Perry, quoted in J. Klein, Grayson Perry, Victoria Miro Gallery, 2010, p. 140).