Grayson Perry: I’ve done a lot of work and I want to celebrate that

Sir Grayson Perry said he has done a “lot of work” and he “wants to celebrate it” as he launched his biggest ever UK exhibition.

Named Smash Hits, the show opens this Saturday and is a retrospective of Sir Grayson’s 40-year career as an artist at Edinburgh’s Royal Scottish Academy at the National Galleries on The Mound.

The vast collection of pottery and sculpture and tapestries as long as swimming pools fills several rooms of the Royal Academy.

As well as telling the story of Perry’s career over the last four decades, it also serves visitors as a visual representation of Britain’s recent history.

Class is a key theme of Sir Grayson’s work and something which he told reporters at a preview of the exhibition “as a British person” he is “completely obsessed with”.

He said: “What’s interesting is, it’s still sort of true.

“I was joking earlier that I was going to start a protest movement against gentrification and call it Just Stop Olive Oil.

“Culture is like an elevator in the British class system. You can zip up and down, talk to anyone and work with anyone.”

Sir Grayson began cross-dressing in 1978 when he assumed the identity of Claire but he is keen to emphasise it is not part of his art.

He said: “For the first 20 years of my career, I was the transvestite potter, that was my kind of brand.

“But, of course, now you can’t say that. Now I’m the transvestite ceramicist.

“At its core I think I’ve had the same shtick for 40 years. I’ve become more skilful, I’ve become richer and I’ve worked in different ways but the basic shtick remains the same.”

Sir Grayson’s vast tapestries, one of which is more than 14 metres long, are now made with the assistance of a computer.

He draws them on Photoshop and they are then made in a Belgian factory.

He said: “This is a very, very dense show. Whenever I see a show of my own I just see man hours.

“These things are all taking up time.”

At 63, Sir Grayson said he had questioned whether he still has the energy to make some of his art.

He said: “I get daunted when I see all of this stuff.

“The other thing is I’m old now and I look things and I go, ‘Have I got the energy to make that?'”

But his overarching feeling on seeing the exhibition taking shape is excitement.

He joked: “This week, I have just kind of indulged my narcissism and egoism and talked about me.

“There’s great big letters (of my name) down the front (entrance to the venue), and it’s fantastic.

“I’ve done a lot of work and so I want to celebrate that.”

The exhibition formally opens on Saturday July 22 and runs until November 12.

Full price tickets cost £19 for adults.

For further details, please see https://www.nationalgalleries.org/exhibition/grayson-perry-smash-hits.