Playing to the Gallery by Grayson Perry. Book review

Hello. I have been hanging on to this book for several weeks now, keep picking it up and finding more little gems of wisdom. I like Grayson Perry, his art, his humour, and his cross dressing. In this book he tells it like it is, the art world stripped bare according to the Perry ethos. 

He chose this title for a reason, it could have been entitled, 'Sucking up to the Academic Elite', but he has based it on some of his popular Reith Lectures. He answers some of the basic questions about art, but are too embarrassed to ask, such as what counts as quality art, and how do you become a contemporary artist.

A few interesting and amusing snippets. What is quality art? Validation is the key point, who is doing the validating? Quite often you can't tell if something is a piece of art apart from the fact that people are standing around looking at it. How can you tell if a photo is art? He says we live in an age when photography rains on us like sewage from above. That made me laugh.

This is Grayson Perry's personal journey through the art world, helping contemporary art in it's struggle to be understood. He asks if it has become mainstream, and says anyone is eligible to enjoy art or become an artist. He also says, very few artists make art to make money, they do it because they are driven, or they love to look at it, or to be around artists. People think it's fun to be an artist, but it takes a lot of hours to produce an artwork.

This book is a refreshing look at the art world in a direct and no claptrap pretentious waffling way. Read it if you enjoy art, but also read it if you are baffled by art and are looking for a simple way of understanding it.

Plenty of reviews on Amazon here. 

If you've got nine minutes to spare take a look at this yooootoooob video. He talks about his preparation for the Reith Lectures.



Right, I'll toddle off, things to do. A new exhibition at our 20 21 Arts Centre has started and the artist is there in person today, so I want to go and meet her.

Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip