Grayson Perry (B. 1960)

‘The assertion of identity through cultural choices is tricky, because what is exclusive and what is popular constantly shifts. One minute we feel we are on the cutting edge of taste; the next all our consumer choices seem very predictable and kitsch. The art critic Clement Greenberg defined kitsch as art after the soul has departed. Kitsch is always snapping at the heels of whatever is fashionable and avant-garde. The cycle spins in ever-decreasing circles – what used to be kitsch becomes reborn among hipsters as “vintage” – but now the idea of vintage has itself become kitsch. Every so often we realise that our mental picture of kitsch has become outdated. The cliché of Gran’s front room, stuffed with knick-knacks, saccharine pottery animals and copies of Constable’s The Hay Wain set against lurid 70s wallpaper is increasingly rare and becoming hip again as a result’
- Grayson Perry