Grayson Perry: The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman, British Museum, review - Telegraph

Using a word I wouldn’t normally associate with a trip to the British Museum, but this was fun:

Tombs, pots, craft, history, transvestites, what? If you have heard anything about the concept of the British Museum’s latest exhibition you will likely be feeling confused or sceptical. What has the Turner Prize-winning artist, mad potter, and celebrity transvestite been doing in one of Britain’s best-loved museums?

For two and a half years now he’s been raiding the bowels of the museum’s archives with a license to extract whatever treasure he wants from its academic context and present it to the public alongside the products of his own most recent creative outpourings. The result is a smorgasbord of world history, as seen through the eyes of the artist, or what he calls “a journey through my mind”. That, by the way, takes some serious confidence - both on his part and that of the exhibitions team at the British Museum.

Good on Grayson for opening the show with a retort to all his sceptics then. You are greeted at the entrance by a typically homebaked Perry-esque pot bearing some distinctive figures scrawled in his scruffily imperfect manner. It is called ‘You Are Here’ (2011) and depicts you, the museum-going public, explaining with speech bubbles why you went to see the show. It includes: “I liked the poster” and “I just wanted to satisfy myself that I am more clever than this celebrity charlatan.”

It’s my first exposure to the work of Grayson Perry, which seems to revolve around the twin-poles of teddy bears and cross-dressing. It was utterly insane, but gloriously so. Worth a visit for the gift shop alone.