Grayson Perry is arguably the most famous artist working in Britain today, said BBC Scotland. Since the 1980s, he has gone “from taking pottery evening classes to winning the Turner Prize”, and presenting programmes on Channel 4. He is now held in high esteem by both the art establishment and the general public, and this summer has seen the self-titled “Transvestite Potter” scale new heights. In June, he was knighted. Now, “the biggest exhibition of his 40-year career” has opened in Edinburgh.
It is the first retrospective he has ever had in the UK, featuring more than 80 of his best-known works: pots, tapestries, prints and sculptures. Among the highlights is his “astonishing” 15-metre “Walthamstow Tapestry”, said Duncan Macmillan in The Scotsman. It’s an ironic epic, which tells the story of the seven ages of man, the journey from birth to death, “through the lens of shopping”. Perry’s work reflects on all sorts of “issues”: masculinity, class, Englishness. But it’s all done with a deft satirical touch and a “truly original vision”. The Royal Scottish Academy is hosting the show for its neighbour, the National Galleries of Scotland; I haven’t seen its halls “so well-filled by a single living artist” for many decades.
Perry is “a manifestly talented artist who can draw detailed, precise, complex images”, said Jonathan Jones in The Guardian. Sadly, he chooses to throw away this talent on “the vanity of small amusements”. Much here relates directly to his unhappy childhood in 1960s Essex, during which he created “a private universe” around a teddy bear called Alan Measles. Alan is a recurring figure here: we see him cast in bronze, cradling the artist’s “inner child”; posing as a knight; and being “transported in a glass carriage on the back of Perry’s motorbike”. If there’s any charm to this, it soon wears thin. It is all so “very English”, Perry’s whimsy, and his ironic deflation of anything that looks too serious. He has chosen to be “a middle-class entertainer”, a suburban pop artist. Ultimately, the “lack of passion and courage” here is “depressing”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
For all its “intense intricacy”, Perry’s style of drawing is “distinctly adolescent”, said Alastair Sooke in The Daily Telegraph. He “abhors empty space”, and his art is an ambiguity-free “hodgepodge of homage and imitation”, in which he updates masterpieces such as Hogarth’s The Rake’s Progress for contemporary audiences. His preferred aesthetic – “a sort of homespun, consciously clumsy finish” – seems mannered: “proficiency masquerading as ineptitude”. Yet he has one “superpower”: he is genuinely funny. Whether they are lampooning the art market or the puritanism of “social justice warriors”, his “filthy, puckish jugs, jars, vases, and urns” rarely fail to raise a laugh. This show demonstrates that while he may not be a great artist, he is unquestionably “a great satirist”.
National Galleries of Scotland (Royal Scottish Academy), Edinburgh (0131-624 6200). Until 12 November; nationalgalleries.org
-
October 19 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday's editorial cartoons include Pete Hegseth and the press, an absence of government, and George Washington crossing the Delaware
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelagoThe Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
AI: is the bubble about to burst?In the Spotlight Stock market ever-more reliant on tech stocks whose value relies on assumptions of continued growth and easy financing
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelago
The Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
Diane Keaton: the Oscar-winning star of Annie HallIn the Spotlight Something’s Gotta Give actor dies from pneumonia at the age of 79
-
Heirs and Graces: an ‘enthralling’ deep dive into the decline of nobilityThe Week Recommends Eleanor Doughty explores the ‘bizarre fascination’ with the British aristocracy
-
6 sporty homes with tennis courtsFeature Featuring a clay tennis court in New York and a viewing deck in California
-
Critics’ choice: Seafood in the spotlightFeature An experimental chef, a newspaper-worthy newcomer, and a dining titan’s fresh spin-off
-
Taylor Swift’s Showgirl: Much glitter, little goldFeature Swift’s new album has broken records, but critics say she may have gotten herself creatively stuck
-
Theater review: Masquerade218 W. 57th St., New York City 218 W. 57th St., New York City
-
Film reviews: Roofman and Kiss of the Spider WomanFeature An escaped felon’s heart threatens to give him away and a prisoner escapes into daydreams of J.Lo.
