Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur – a 'playful' collection of paintings and objects

Grayson Perry's new exhibition at The Wallace Collection is a characteristically "playful" and unconventional affair, said Nancy Durrant in The Times. When the Turner Prize-winning artist was invited to create a show amid the museum's holdings of Old Master paintings and rococo decorative art, he admitted that he found its "grandeur" and "conspicuous expense" rather repellent, its cherubs and curlicues "cloying". His response was to create an alter ego "to love the Wallace for him".

Step forward Shirley Smith, a troubled "outsider artist" (inspired by Madge Gill, who showed her art at the Wallace in the 1940s) who is convinced she is actually the aristocratic heir to the museum's collection. "Convoluted" as all this may sound, the ploy allows Perry to explore themes such as "taste and status, gender stereotypes, the purpose of fantasy and the power of art" through the prism of his "deluded" imaginary character.

The display mixes all sorts of objects and paintings from the Wallace in with the artist's own bronzes, ceramics, tapestries, drawings and "documentary material" relating to the fictitious Smith (to whom around a third of the works are attributed). Perry may not be a fan of the venue, but it's a "perfect context" for his madcap vision.

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The trouble is that Perry's heart just isn't in it, said Alastair Sooke in The Telegraph. Indeed, "his irritation with the project is palpable": in his captions, he expresses his dislike for the Wallace and its contents, even its West End location; he describes an intentionally crude new pot he has made for the show as "a grumpy outburst in pottery form", its rough edges hewn in response to the museum's trove of exquisite 18th century Sèvres porcelain. "OK, so he hates French rococo style – but, given that this is a speciality of the Wallace Collection, why take this exhibition on?" Perry's teasing provocations are usually offset by his "famous wit", but here he comes across as stroppy. Nor does the alter ego gambit come to much: we see some drawings apparently by "Smith" and some black-and-white photos of Perry pretending to be her in full drag, a "rich insider" posing as an outsider. It's "arch and over-elaborate", and can't compensate for the weaknesses of this "awkward, snarky venture".

There's some fun stuff here, said Hettie Judah in The Guardian. Perry is at his best when he creates "straightforward" works that reference the museum's collection without recourse to made-up characters. There's an elaborate suit of armour "complete with curled eyelashes and tiara", "a gun for shooting things in the past", and some "delightfully pompous ceramic busts". Yet Perry's persistent "anti-establishment stance" rings hollow: he is, lest we forget, "a knight of the realm and a ubiquitous presence on TV". Ultimately, you get the sense he is "indulging in nostalgia for a lost status as an underdog" – and the show is none the better for it.

The Wallace Collection, London W1. Until 26 October.