Exhibition and West End show, he talks Trump, trans-awareness and testosterone with
As Perry’s fame has grown, so has the price of his work. Last week Sotheby’s announced an auction record of £112,500 for his 1999 Punters in the Snow pot, while at Frieze London his Chris Huhne vase — which he smashed and mended with gold — sold for £120,000. He insists wealth hasn’t changed him, just given him more opportunities. “I still spend what my wife [psychotherapist Philippa Perry] calls Essex money. When you grew up with no money, you’ve still got the sting of ‘Ooh that’s a bit extravagant’, but I do treat myself sometimes.” He’s just commissioned that ultimate boy’s toy, a custom-built motorbike, “because I fancied it”, costing tens of thousands, much to Philippa’s delight. As much a critic as she is a fan, Philippa is, he says, “dead sharp” and keeps him grounded. They have one daughter, Flo, who is 24 and a senior staff writer at BuzzFeed.
Perry considers himself lucky to have fulfilled so many of his ambitions but regrets the fact that he was never reconciled with his estranged mother, Jean Dines, before she died earlier this year. She and Perry’s father separated when Perry was a child. She later remarried and, as Perry recounted in his 2007 autobiography of his early years, his stepfather was violent and abusive. The teenage Perry went to live with his father until his stepmother discovered he cross-dressed and threw him out. “I fantasised about [a reconciliation] for a long time, then lobbied her for it, but it didn’t happen. I didn’t go to her funeral but I’ve had good therapy, so I feel pretty resilient.”
Therapy has played a huge part in his life, not least in shaping his blueprint for a new kind of masculinity, where men have the right to be vulnerable, weak and wrong. It has also taught him the difference between privacy and secrecy. “Secrecy is where you keep something from somebody that would affect them if they knew about it, whereas privacy is something you just don’t want to talk about,” he says, “and I’ve got nothing to hide.”
For now, his focus is on producing new work for his Serpentine show next June, modestly titled The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! “There’ll be media I haven’t exhibited before.” What kind? “Oh, I can’t talk about that.” Is that a secret or is it private? “No,” he replies, “it’s just the logic of PR.”
The Descent of Man is published by Allen Lane, £16.99. The Typical Man In A Dress tour includes the London Palladium on November 3, rutlive.co.uk/event/grayson-perry
‘I can be very traditionally masculine, territorial and also competitive — especially towards other men’