Of course I love super-rich, they buy my work: Perry

“My aim is to unsettle by showing what's real and what isn’t,” says Grayson Perry, all messy hair, stubbled chin, crumpled T-shirt 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.

- Geordie Greig, The Independent

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, and even AI. 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.