Grayson Perry is an English artist born in 1960 known for his ceramic vases and cross-dressing. He often depicts stories on his vases, including his female alter-ego Claire from childhood. His creations are bold with bright colors. Perry's father left when he was young, which had a strong impact on him. He now lives in London with his wife and child. His work reflects his childhood problems and lack of guidance. He dresses as a woman and tells the story of his alter-ego Claire in various mediums including ceramics, printmaking and performance.

1. 38849304076701797685407035 Grayson Perry Research<br />-25971592710<br />Grayson Perry is an English artist who was born in 1960. He is mainly famous and known for his ceramic vases and his habits of cross dressing. He has a strong autobiographical element in his work as many of his vases feature ‘Claire’ his female alter-ego from childhood. His creations are big, bold and covered with bright and eye-catching colours, and most are used to depict stories, even some as odd as child abuse and sado-masochism. He has won many awards over the years such as the Turner Prize in 2003. As a child, at the age of 7, Perry’s father left his family due to his mother’s adultery and since then he has always said that his father’s departure was the biggest impact in his life. To escape from his complicated family problems and his step-dad’s violence, he would go to his father’s shed or his bedroom and live in a fantasy life of his own, where he would play with his teddy bear, a surrogate father figure to him. In his teens he realised that he was a transvestite and discovered his urge to dress as a woman, when he moved in with his father’s family again, he even started going out dressed as a woman, until he was caught and his step-mom threw him out the house. He then went off to do a course in art and studied it for several years. He now lives with his wife and child in London.<br />Grayson’s work is very much based on Greek Pottery and traditional Folk Art. In his work he reflects his childhood and his problems as a young boy, his step-dad’s anger, and the absence of proper male guidance and conduct in his life as a child. Much of his work contains explicit sexual content and some of his work was even called ’obscene sadomasochistic sex scenes’. Perry very often dresses up as a woman in public displays, exhibitions etc and tells his story of his female alter ego ‘Claire’. As well as ceramics, Perry has worked in printmaking, drawing, embroidery and other textile work, film and performance. He has written a graphic novel, Cycle of Violence.<br />