Grayson Perry
I operate on anger quite a lot. Its what gets me up in the morning to make art quite often. Well, irritation at least.Collection: Anger
I think sometimes in the art world theres an implication that you need an entry-level education to walk through the door of a gallery. But you dont. The learning experience actually happens once youre in the gallery.Collection: Learning
I was once judging some prisoner art, and you wouldnt believe the number of eagles and tigers and symbols of freedom and wildness that came up. It was a really strong trope.Collection: Freedom
Often men dont even realise theyre sad. Boys are brought up to unconsciously feel they would be breaking their man contract if they were to cry too much.Collection: Sad
I haven't been to Oxbridge. I haven't even been to a London art school. My qualifications are pretty meagre for such a brief, but I just trust in my sense of what I'm interested in and my mission of clarity.Collection: Trust
Im a maximalist, so Im probably not very elegant. My art is not a coup de grce. Its a war of attrition.Collection: Art
I hate to tell this to people but most gods were invented by someone. I'm sorry. It's just that I'm in the present, whereas the famous gods were invented by someone a long time ago.Collection: Famous
Self-consciousness is almost the biggest thing you have to deal with as an artist. That's why many artists crash and burn, because they can't handle the attention and the financial implications of every brushstroke.
I love learning. I always learn on the job.
My great overall skill is spontaneity and winging it!
I have a knack for winning prizes; it must be something Ive done!
We have this idea that seriousness is of higher value. But surely there is more human pleasure and delight in time spent with humour than with pondering the great philosophical ideas.
And it's been one of my big sort of campaigns throughout my career, really, is to sort of make art accessible but without dumbing it down. You know, art - the more you know about it, the more you enjoy it.
The art world would have you believe that anything can be art. But, of course, there's actually many things that aren't art. And we would all recognize it when it isn't.
My tapestries are woven on a computer-controlled loom. I design them on Photoshop. I recently did some digitally-routed woodcuts because I wanted the woodcut look, but I didn't want to get the chisels out.
Drawing will never go out of date because, you know, you've still got to have the imaginative thought. You've got to react to the world in the present and do a drawing.
Im a fan of the restaurant where they only have one thing and maybe a vegetarian option. You get what you are given.
When mobile phones came out, they were a status symbol. Now the status symbol is having someone to manage your mobile phone for you.
My mother is a strong person. She's funny but volatile, with a pretty bad temper.
I had an affair with an older woman when I was at college, and she was a strong feminist, which shaped my view of women. I learned that they could call the shots, which was fine with me.
I've always gone out with women who made me laugh.
It's interesting that female artists are underrepresented in exhibitions. That may be down to the fact that the people in power in the art world are men.
If Id had a happy childhood I definitely wouldnt have become the person I am - although a bad childhood isnt a recipe for being a creative person. There are many people in the arts who come from perfectly happy, middle-class homes.
I dont care how Ill be remembered after death. For all I know people will put all my work in a skip the next day.
Fashion is a language, and therefore says something about politics, and certain fashion styles get associated with certain political standpoints.
Fashion is a way to orchestrate the spectacle of ideas. You can get someone who is fashionable but not terribly stylish, and the other way round.
As human beings, we are addicted to novelty. Part of being stylish is surprisingness. Part of being an artist is surprisingness. If there are ingredients of beauty, it certainly is one of them. Surprise is like a spice on the meal, it makes you say: 'woo'.
You cant be an artist without going to art school. Its impossible. Art schools like being plunged into a sheep dip that inoculates you against cliches. It gives you a sensibility you need to get into the art world.
How art works is really interesting. It comes from our unconscious, a lot of it. And were communicating in ways were not completely aware of when were making it.
Culture is a collaborative exercise, and I think everybody will do their bit to help it grow.
Success in the art world means getting invitations to exhibit in some great places. I had shown in contemporary art museums in Europe, America, New Zealand and Japan. I'd also been asked to curate shows, and had made work to go with my selections from historical collections.
I enjoyed the thought that hovering behind my work is a unifying belief system, just as there is behind Egyptian or Ancient Greek art. It just happens that the person who thought up the belief system behind my work is still around - ie, me.
The preparations for my very first exhibition in 1984 consisted of banging a line of nails in roughly the right place and hanging plates on them. I don't think a tape measure or a spirit level was involved and the whole process took less time than the session in the pub afterwards.
Security and care of the objects is paramount. Arty composition comes after everything is safe from greasy fingers, humidity or excess light.
Part of being an artist is that you are achingly self-conscious about every aesthetic decision you make, and taste is at its most powerful when it's a default, unconscious decision because that's when all the influence of your childhood and background and society comes into play.
I think of colour sense as the visual equivalent of perfect pitch. Some people can just reach into a pile of swatches and say that looks nice with that.
Of course, I worry about being fashionable, although when you're fashionable you're already on the track to being unfashionable.
I've always liked working with an archetypal design, something functional.
If you stick to your dream script, you will have a boring and meaningless life.
I cant make art to please everybody all the time. I make art that I like.
I think people mistakenly get their chaos muddled up with their creativity. Provided you know what your issues are, they're not going to go away.
Anything can be art but very little is good art.
I was very excited when the Holburne Museum proposed a show of my ceramics from the 80s and early 90s as it would also be an opportunity to find and record the beginnings of my career.
My record-keeping hasnt improved much; I recently moved house and found five pots in the loft which had been unseen since the 80s and a dozen plates from the early 90s in a cupboard under a sink!
My job is to make meaning. To make meaning in a meaningless world.
People are always happy to tell you what they think of as bad taste, but when you ask them what they really like themselves, theyre suddenly very vulnerable.
For me, earnestness is the greatest crime an Englishman can commit.
The best view is always from the mountain you've climbed.
If you act as if you love someone and care about them, then before long you do care and you do love them.
Nothing frustrates me about the art world. It is a lovely place. There are many daft things that amuse me about it though.