I Found Myself in the Art World
The Reith Lectures
BBC
4.2 • 770 Ratings
🗓️ 5 November 2013
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the last of his four Reith Lectures, recorded in front of an audience at Central St Martins School of Art in London, the artist Grayson Perry discusses his life in the art world; the journey from the unconscious child playing with paint, to the award-winning successful artist of today. He talks about being an outsider and how he struggles with keeping his integrity as an artist. Perry looks back and asks why men and women throughout history, despite all the various privations they suffered, have always made art. And he discusses the central purpose of creating art - to heal psychic wounds and to make meaning. Perry was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003 and is well known for his ceramic works, printmaking, drawing, sculpture and tapestry. He is also known as one of Britain's most famous cross-dressers as alter ego Claire. The Reith Lectures are presented by Sue Lawley and produced by Jim Frank.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy. |
| 0:05.4 | My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:10.7 | The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that. |
| 0:17.4 | With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to helping |
| 0:22.7 | you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all put together |
| 0:28.7 | by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music in your life, |
| 0:34.9 | check out BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to the 2013 BBC Reith Lectures Download. |
| 0:41.3 | This year I, Grace and Perry, present a series of four lectures entitled Playing to the Gallery. |
| 0:46.3 | In these lectures I'll be looking at the role and place of art in the global landscape of the 21st century, |
| 0:52.3 | talking about topics such as the role of art in |
| 0:55.1 | society, the limits of contemporary art, and the idea of how we judge quality. |
| 1:00.1 | Hello and welcome to the fourth of this year's BBC Reith Lectures. It's our last stop on |
| 1:05.8 | the journey and we've come to a place where our lecturer feels very much at home. We're in the platform theatre of Central St. Martin's, the HQ of the six colleges across London |
| 1:16.7 | that make up the University of the Arts, where he's now one of the lecturers. |
| 1:22.1 | His wreath lectures are called playing to the gallery, and if you've heard what's gone before, |
| 1:26.5 | you'll know that they've been a witty |
| 1:28.5 | forthright and revealing exploration of modern society's relationship with art and the art world |
| 1:34.7 | in general. Today we're striking a more personal note as our lecturer describes the |
| 1:40.4 | sometimes painful process of becoming an artist and explores the nature of artistic identity. |
| 1:47.7 | Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the BBC Reith Lecturer 2013, |
| 1:51.8 | Grayson Perry. |
| 2:09.5 | Thank you. What is this movement? |
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