Essential Listening: Democracy Has Bad Taste

Democracy Has Bad Taste is the first of this year's Reith Lectures by Grayson Perry.  

It is essential listening for all artists and those involved in viewing art, curating art, selling art and collecting art.

It's now available to listen to on the BBC Radio Player

I want to talk about the issue of quality because I think this is one of the most burning issues around art – how do we tell if something is good?
Grayson Perry

I love Grayson Perry.  He's my kind of contemporary artist - accessible and subversive at one and the same time!  That's subversive as in saying what everybody's thinking - even if they daren't say it out loud in case it harms their careers. One could describe him as an intellectual, articulate and highly visible version of Banksy.

To deliver an original thesis which develops across four lectures, have them subjected to cross-questioning from audiences of hundreds and broadcast to millions beyond that, takes intellectual rigour, a deal of wisdom and (always a bonus) a dollop of wit. Grayson has these qualities in spades.Sue Lawley

I like the fact that:

• he creates art in what are commonly seen as unfashionable art media - ceramics and tapestries
• he exists and his art is popular despite and not because of the art establishment
• he became a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and won the Turner Prize  despite being in his own words nothing more than a "transvest*ite potter from Essex"
• he still resorts to a pencil and paper and drawing in order to get an idea worked out
• he unsettles all the chaps with his cross-dressing.  I find that females almost universally love him!
• and finally.....he's one of the most articulate people talking today about art. He makes art accessible for very many people.

For me he slices through the cr*p and astutely finds new ways of making his point - in ways which nobody else seems to be able to replicate - which can only be a good thing!

I'm quite surprised to be here tonight, because two days ago I had a phone call asking if I would be a judge for the Not the Turner Prize. And two years ago I was asked by the Stuckists to dress as a clown and come and be on the steps outside, so I am thrilled and slightly surprised to be here.
Grayson Perry - Winner of the Turner Prize (2003)

Reith Lectures & Grayson Perry - links to related websites

BBC sites

• BBC - Grayson Perry: Playing to the Gallery - The Images 
• Democracy Has Bad Taste - Video Highlights Watch highlights from the first Reith Lecture, recorded at Tate Modern
• Reith Lectures 2013 - Lecture 1 Transcript
• BBC video - Grayson Perry: 'There's an awful lot of guff talked about art' Artist Grayson Perry was commissioned to draw a series of pictures to illustrate his Reith Lectures on 
• BBC Radio 4. Here he explains what they mean.
• BBC Intellect, Rigour and Frocks Read Sue Lawley's blog on Reith Lecturer Grayson Perry
• BBC - The Reith Lectures

Reviews

• The Guardian - In praise of … art without the hype
• The Observer - Grayson Perry: 'To appreciate art you've got to work at it a bit' The artist on his Reith lectures, working within the establishment – and the secret to enjoying art
• The Telegraph - Gillian Reynolds on Grayson Perry: 'a really smart guy'
• The Telegraph - Grayson Perry may dress as a woman – but he's got the balls to take on the ludicrous modern art establishment
• The Independent - Grayson Perry: A very modern artist
• The Independent - Grayson Perry: Damien Hirst's work is hackneyed and tatty
• Financial Times - Grayson Perry's Reith Lectures: Who decides what makes art good?
• Huffington Post - Reith Lectures: Grayson Perry To Bertrand Russell, A Guide For Bluffers

Apologies for the asterisks - but this post kept running into problems and it occurred to me it might be running into the buffers of some Google Code for Acceptable Language!