Reactor

Is the Art World Disengaged "With the Real World"?

by Hrag Vartanian on October 25, 2011

A photo of Grayson Perry demonstrating how fully engaged he is with the "real world" (via flickr.com/richardzinho)

According to BBC, the 2003 Turner prize-winner Grayson Perry has called the art establishment disengaged “with the real world.” And then he adds, “There is no popular wing to it.” But wait, he’s not done yet. He’s also dismissive of the art world in general. ”I have a pot called Boring Cool People,” he said. “It’s decorated with pictures of the sort of people who go to contemporary art galleries.”

Perry is not the sort of artist you’d expect to be selfconscious about connecting with the “real world” considering his bright campy antics, ceramic vases and cross-dressing seem perfect at home in the art world. Btw, did you see the butt part of the outfit he’s wearing?

Tagged as: Grayson Perry

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  • http://twitter.com/wideyedphotos Wideyed

    Grayson Perry doesn’t just make ‘ceramic vases’! Have you even seen any of them up close?

    He also has a sense of humour. I’m sure you do too, but it seems to have failed you here. Shame.

    • http://hragv.com Hrag Vartanian

      I was just trying to be campy with that one, sorry if I offended, but I was making the point kind of tongue in cheek. And I just thought it was a juxtaposition just too good not to make.

  • Bernard Klevickas

    From a recent artist statement: “reconfigure the semiotics of objecthood, juxtaposing the evanescent
    with the recalcitrantly machine-like, the obsolete with the
    atavistically futuristic, enveloping and recontextualizing that which we
    take for granted to be immaterial”

    Yup. Just a bit out of touch.

    • Mysti Easterwood

      Critics are not artists (trust me, we’re so not).  So don’t be tarring our bebes wi’ dat brush.
       

  • Anonymous

    ”I have a pot called Boring Cool People,” he said. “It’s decorated with pictures of the sort of people who go to contemporary art galleries.”

    I love this title. But–talk about an insider piece of artwork!

  • http://twitter.com/21stCscribe MarcNash

    On the level of communication and experience, the art world is largely out of touch. But art pieces as very valuable commodities/investments which form investment markets for speculation and increase in value, they are entirely of the real world. Go figure.

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