Art is a process. Its expressing yourself and doing something, and throwing yourself into it and getting better at it and trying again. Thats what its about.Grayson Perry
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I realised that identity always seemed to be an issue when it was challenged - thats when it seemed to be most in 3D, so that you could look at it.Grayson Perry
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In the art world, originality is seen as a precious commodity and its increasingly difficult to get because the territory of art is so trampled.Grayson Perry
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I always think that painters are fighting over the last original brushstroke. To find your own voice is incredibly hard.Grayson Perry
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If youre sure that everything youre going to do is going to be good, then whats the point? I used to think of it as just crippling self-doubt. Now I kind of see it as a sign that Im teetering on the edge of something new. Or troubling.Grayson Perry
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If Id had a happy childhood I definitely wouldnt have become the person I am - although a bad childhood isnt a recipe for being a creative person. There are many people in the arts who come from perfectly happy, middle-class homes.Grayson Perry
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Road rage is my vice. Im a cyclist and motorcyclist, and people who dont indicate drive me nuts.Grayson Perry
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I enjoyed the thought that hovering behind my work is a unifying belief system, just as there is behind Egyptian or Ancient Greek art. It just happens that the person who thought up the belief system behind my work is still around - ie, me.Grayson Perry
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How art works is really interesting. It comes from our unconscious, a lot of it. And were communicating in ways were not completely aware of when were making it.Grayson Perry
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I dont care how Ill be remembered after death. For all I know people will put all my work in a skip the next day.Grayson Perry
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Being vulnerable is the absolute key to having good relationships. And good relationships are the key to being happy.Grayson Perry
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Pottery was what sandal-wearing, windchime-lovers did. Art is sensitive to areas of visual culture that havent yet been colonised by the art world, and perhaps what they sensed back then was, here was an area that hadnt been fully explored.Grayson Perry
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It's interesting that female artists are underrepresented in exhibitions. That may be down to the fact that the people in power in the art world are men.Grayson Perry
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Im a maximalist, so Im probably not very elegant. My art is not a coup de grce. Its a war of attrition.Grayson Perry
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Fashion is a way to orchestrate the spectacle of ideas. You can get someone who is fashionable but not terribly stylish, and the other way round.Grayson Perry
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Artists have their very distinctive voices that theyve developed over a long period. It takes time to find your voice, your vocabulary of images, or whatever it is.Grayson Perry
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I think I grew up in an 'acultural' household - no books, no paintings, never went to an art gallery. I say that, but of course we had the TV.Grayson Perry
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Im interested in those things that hover in our unconsciousnesses - class, gender, identity - until we have to think about them for whatever reason. So normal is whatevers normal for you, until its not.Grayson Perry
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The preparations for my very first exhibition in 1984 consisted of banging a line of nails in roughly the right place and hanging plates on them. I don't think a tape measure or a spirit level was involved and the whole process took less time than the session in the pub afterwards.Grayson Perry
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Success in the art world means getting invitations to exhibit in some great places. I had shown in contemporary art museums in Europe, America, New Zealand and Japan. I'd also been asked to curate shows, and had made work to go with my selections from historical collections.Grayson Perry
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My record-keeping hasnt improved much; I recently moved house and found five pots in the loft which had been unseen since the 80s and a dozen plates from the early 90s in a cupboard under a sink!Grayson Perry
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I hate it when people say that art shouldnt be a commodity. A lot of the rooms in museums, and all the Frieze week events, are there because of high-end art collectors.Grayson Perry
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I think its dangerous when people think theyre being expressive. Yuck. Its like people who say theyre spiritual, innit. You make the work you want to make, and you get on with it and hopefully it connects with other people.Grayson Perry
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Of course, I worry about being fashionable, although when you're fashionable you're already on the track to being unfashionable.Grayson Perry
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Some people will have working-class, front-room grandma taste that is better than other people's. I went to stately homes that are a bit duff, and stately homes that were absolutely eye-popping.Grayson Perry
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I had an affair with an older woman when I was at college, and she was a strong feminist, which shaped my view of women. I learned that they could call the shots, which was fine with me.Grayson Perry
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Well, intellectual importance is directly linked to financial value in the art world. I mean, thats the thing you really want - museum quality. You want to go down in the annals of art history.Grayson Perry
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I've got a pot in my studio that is just a bitter rant against the art world. I call it my Dorian Gray.Grayson Perry
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I like skateboarding because it's backyard danger. You don't need to go on an alpine holiday to get thrills.Grayson Perry
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There are some very unsavoury aspects of art dealing that go with the unregulated nature of the market but its all part of the glamour. Glamour always has an unsavoury edge. I dont want to come across as preachy.Grayson Perry
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People are always happy to tell you what they think of as bad taste, but when you ask them what they really like themselves, theyre suddenly very vulnerable.Grayson Perry
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Part of being an artist is that you are achingly self-conscious about every aesthetic decision you make, and taste is at its most powerful when it's a default, unconscious decision because that's when all the influence of your childhood and background and society comes into play.Grayson Perry
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You don't work in a vacuum. If you're a visual artist you work in a visual culture. If you're a pop musician you listen to pop music. If you're an artist you should know about the art world.Grayson Perry
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Fashion is a language, and therefore says something about politics, and certain fashion styles get associated with certain political standpoints.Grayson Perry
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I often hear women approvingly describe themselves or other women as feisty. Feisty, I feel, has sexist implications, as if standing up for yourself was exceptional in a woman. It sounds like a word that a raffish Lothario would use about a difficult conquest.Grayson Perry
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I'm suspicious when I go to someone's house and everything is beautiful and perfect. Authenticity often means mistakes.Grayson Perry
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I was once judging some prisoner art, and you wouldnt believe the number of eagles and tigers and symbols of freedom and wildness that came up. It was a really strong trope.Grayson Perry
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Im quite self-serving so, while going round a degree show, what I really want to find out is whats going on in the world today, particularly as technology has widened the chasm between generations.Grayson Perry
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We have this idea that seriousness is of higher value. But surely there is more human pleasure and delight in time spent with humour than with pondering the great philosophical ideas.Grayson Perry
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As human beings, we are addicted to novelty. Part of being stylish is surprisingness. Part of being an artist is surprisingness. If there are ingredients of beauty, it certainly is one of them. Surprise is like a spice on the meal, it makes you say: 'woo'.Grayson Perry
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Gender is great, and Im happy for anybody to celebrate wherever they are on the gender spectrum. Its got amazingly much easier in my lifetime.Grayson Perry
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I think of colour sense as the visual equivalent of perfect pitch. Some people can just reach into a pile of swatches and say that looks nice with that.Grayson Perry
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Mother had an affair with the milkman, who later became my stepdad and my father left. My stepdad was an angry guy and Mother was a hysterical narcissist. It was a toxic mixture and there was a lot of disruption and violent arguments in the house.Grayson Perry
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The male role is heavily policed from birth, by parents, peers and bosses. Politicians in particular are harshly kept in line by a media that seems to uphold more bizarrely rigid standards of conformity than those held by any citizen.Grayson Perry
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I did a psychotherapy day once, about class, and the first thing they did was get us to talk about our names. Of course, me, being called Grayson, everybody thinks its somehow unusual and classy. No, its bang-on aspirational working class.Grayson Perry
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