………..continued
‘I kind of struggle with my curmudgeonliness here because I should be all-embracing and the art world should close ranks and we should all say yes everything we do is really brilliant. And in many ways, I am a kind of conceptual artist – I put myself among those – masquerading as a craftsman; and I employ traditional media like pottery and tapestry and etching in a kind of teasing, reactionary way because I don’t want to question in many ways, though writing these speeches has made me incredibly thoughtful about what I do myself. And my personal experience if you like of the boundaries of art, I’ve sort of bumped up not against the formal boundaries so much, but I think of a kind of snobbery because I think beneath the sophisticated tolerance – “yeah everybody can make art and everybody … everything they do can be art” – I think there is a little bit of interesting kind of class snobbery going on. Like a urinal – you know bring that into art, that’s really radical. And a shark, you bring that into the gallery – oh my god, that’s an amazing thing. But a pot, now that’s craft.’
(Perry, G, 2013, Reith Lecture, p. 9)
The co-relationship between traditional craft makers and contemporary artists is evident in parallel making processes despite different starting points. One applies the craft process to a consumerist end, the other uses the craft process to communicate concept. The Fine Artist uses visual language and visual codes within the materiality of the object to symbolise a current issue. The applied artist combines current trends with traditional craft making processes. The applied artist uses advanced skill and time within a production process of a piece of work. The Fine Artists employs these applied craft makers to produce key pieces within an artwork. The debate is when the craft element within the work becomes Fine Art. The work leaves the craft creator when the Fine Artist changes the context of the object.
Class and taste run deep within the character of every person and this is what draws Perry into the subject further; the emotional affects that aesthetics have on different classes within our British culture. Perry’s work ridicules the contemporary art world’s claim to be the ultimate arbiters of good taste. He does this by challenging society and Britain in how we look at class and taste, and how we look at art and society within each class. ‘Art is a privilege, a blessing, a relief.’ (Bourgeois, L. 1911. P1089). In order to get these messages/ stories across he makes the art works so that they can be read and understood by a wider audience of all different class, races and ages. Anyone can enjoy art and/or be a part of it.
With regards to work by Grayson Perry i would like to in some ways bring class into my work. I want to bring theidea of privileged classed Fine or higher Art and mix it with working class applied arts. I want my art to be available to everyone no matter their class or taste. Everyone should enjoy art in all it’s forms and in all different concepts. Hopefully my work will have this effect, we will have to wait and see.
