News and Events => Arts & Entertainment News => Topic started by: Shana A on November 12, 2012, 08:02:53 AM Return to Full Version

Title: Grayson Perry, interview
Post by: Shana A on November 12, 2012, 08:02:53 AM
Grayson Perry, interview
Artist Grayson Perry – a national treasure in the making – talks to James Walton about class, frocks and Damien Hirst

By James Walton
7:00AM GMT 12 Nov 2012

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9652416/Grayson-Perry-interview.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9652416/Grayson-Perry-interview.html)

The publicity for this year's Grierson Awards refers to them as "the most prestigious in the documentary world" – and to their presenter Grayson Perry as "Britain's second most famous ->-bleeped-<-". That first claim is hard to dispute, but the second seems surprisingly cautious for a PR company. Presumably, Eddie Izzard is still considered the market leader. Yet there's a strong argument to be made that Perry – award-winning ceramic artist and acclaimed television presenter – has now reached number one in the British ->-bleeped-<- charts.

[...]

Another sign of Perry's status – now heading perilously close to national-treasure levels – is how little fuss his chosen outfit causes in the West End hotel where we meet. "I call it my ladies-who-lunch look," he says, referring to a lace-over-satin two-piece number with pussy-bow accessory. "It's the kind of outfit that on a woman would go with a facelift." Any version of Perry in full drag is routinely referred to as his "alter ego Claire" – but, as he points out, "the alter-ego thing is overdone. I hate to disappoint anyone, but it's just me in a dress." (Should you be interested, incidentally – and I'm afraid I was – Claire goes to the gents.)