‘I enjoy having a grudge’

On the eve of a new exhibition marking his 65th birthday, Grayson Perry talks to Geordie Greig about alter egos, surviving emotional abuse and his distrust of the super-rich

- Geordie Greig

“My aim is to unsettle by showing what’s real and what isn’t,” says Grayson Perry, all messy hair, stubbled chin, crumpled Tshirt and paint-smeared trousers, with only the shocking-pink fingernails on his rough artisan’s hands showing a hint of Claire” his famous cross-dressing alter ego.

In his north London studio it is almost a shock to see the artist so blokeishly casual, just two weeks after I’d witnessed his dramatic entrance at lunch in Mayfair’s Arlington restaurant in floral dress, coloured tights, shining lipstick and red high heels. His voice is powerful, almost gravelly, alternately angry and funny, as he explains why the role of the artist is to provoke – on beauty, class, gender, money, sex and even AI.

On top of a large kiln for baking his pots is a small glazed figure in a dress with a protruding erect penis. A prototype tapestry hangs above him as he talks about his show at the Wallace Collection in Marylebone. Delusions of Grandeur is the biggest exhibition of his life, neatly coinciding with the 65th birthday of this celebrated potter, transvestite, embroiderer, TV personality, biker and soon-to-be musical theatre star of his own life story. “I call myself a conceptual artist masquerading as a craftsman,” he says.

This knight of the realm, national treasure and social disrupter is showing 30 new works, from pots to tapestries, collages to a bronze helmet, a gun, fabulous dresses and a spectacular wooden bureau (which alone took three years to make and then decorate with dozens of portraits). This eclectic collection is as colourful, startling, original and beautiful as the Liberty dress he says he will wear for the show’s opening party.