Grayson Perry in an artist who identifies as a transvestite but never-less-masculine. In his own words, from his Channel 4 documentary “All Man”, “I’ve always had to look at gender” because of his identification under “queer” definitions explained (for film) by Alexander Doty’s Flaming Classics: Queering the Film Canon. Perry’s work before and after the documentary series has prompted further thought on subjects such as masculinity, femininity, beauty, consumerism etc. The artwork he produced for “All Man”, in particular “Object in the foreground” (fig. 1), stands out to me as an excellent critique of men; their behaviour and the world around them.
“Object in the foreground” (fig. 1) was made as a response to the world Perry saw in the financial district of central London (in making “All Man”). The urn was inspired by the lavish and modern interiors of high-end hotel lobbies and atriums of many London skyscrapers. He often alludes to skyscrapers as “phallic”; this is something made abundantly clear by the shape of the urn. This shape is also meant to allude to the very “macho”, masculine-centric financial industry – this is also presented by the title; “Object in the foreground”. In other words, no one wants to comment on the obvious shape and meaning behind the shape of the urn for fear of looking “stupid”-a behaviour of the usual type of man in the cut-throat, “macho”, masculine world of the financial sector. A closer look would reveal a lot of imagery and themes that are conventionally and stereotypically linked to men and ideas of masculinity. When shown both works (the urn and the print below), many of the men, who Perry interviewed for the programme, disliked both, making the work a form of transgression.
“Animal spirit” was the second piece of artwork he made inspired by the bankers of London and was called “not repulsive, but repulsive” by one of the men who disagreed with the way Perry saw their world. The image was inspired by the block prints by artist Albrecht Duber whose work Perry has an admission. It was also inspired by animals commonly seen on stock certificates and bank notes; it consists of a mash up of creatures; a bull and a bear – the two animals most commonly associated with the financial
Figure 2, “Animal Spirit”, Grayson Perry, 2016
market but also very conventionally masculine animals as well. Perry states; “Half bull, half bear but all male”. The beast depicted in the image is a way of pulling the proverbial suit and tie from the well-mannered, well-groomed businessman of the financial market and showing that raw nature that lives inside him; “The beast still lurks but he’s very well behaved”. Even the title “animal spirit” is representative of several different things. First it is a term Perry states “I heard a lot of during the 2008 crash. It was a kind of euphuism for emotional exuberance in the market”. He goes on to say that bankers often said, “we do not have irrational feelings, we have animal spirits”. This is also tied into the work as “rational” is one of the words inside the half-bear, half-bull creature as one of the many words bankers often used to describe themselves. Compared to their counterparts of “lower class”, “the higher class”, “rational” men of the financial sector were not enthusiastic about either of the works inspired by them - if they were not very negative and critical of Perry’s view of them and their world.
Perry, Grayson. The Descent of Man. London, Penguin Books, 2017
Grayson Perry: All Man, Rational Man, 02:40 26/08/2016, Channel 4, 55 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0C8FF4CD?bcast=122367593 (Accessed 03 Mar 2020)
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble. London, Routledge, 1990/1999
Doty, Alexander. Flaming Classics: Queering the Film Canon. London, Routledge, 2000
Jenks, Chris. Transgression. London, Routledge, 2003
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