Grayson Perry

“Success in the art world means getting invitations to exhibit in some great places. I had shown in contemporary art museums in Europe, America, New Zealand and Japan. I'd also been asked to curate shows, and had made work to go with my selections from historical collections.”

“We learned how to look at art from religion.”

“I tick so many boxes. Thats why I get a lot of gigs - because I can do the lectures, I can do the television thing, and I dress up, and by the way, Im an artist as well.”

“I hate it when people say that art shouldnt be a commodity. A lot of the rooms in museums, and all the Frieze week events, are there because of high-end art collectors.”

“Well, within my business, visual art, the intake is 75 per cent female and yet you look at who has showed their work and I think there still is a dominance of males.”

“Im interested in those things that hover in our unconsciousnesses - class, gender, identity - until we have to think about them for whatever reason. So normal is whatevers normal for you, until its not.”

“You don't work in a vacuum. If you're a visual artist you work in a visual culture. If you're a pop musician you listen to pop music. If you're an artist you should know about the art world.”

“The art world would have you believe that anything can be art. But, of course, there's actually many things that aren't art. And we would all recognize it when it isn't.”

“Anything can be art but very little is good art.”

“If you stick to your dream script, you will have a boring and meaningless life.”

“My job is to make meaning. To make meaning in a meaningless world.”

“From birth until I went to art college when I was 19, there are perhaps less than a dozen photographs of me.”

“I dont care how Ill be remembered after death. For all I know people will put all my work in a skip the next day.”

“I've got a pot in my studio that is just a bitter rant against the art world. I call it my Dorian Gray.”

“People are always happy to tell you what they think of as bad taste, but when you ask them what they really like themselves, theyre suddenly very vulnerable.”

“Often men dont even realise theyre sad. Boys are brought up to unconsciously feel they would be breaking their man contract if they were to cry too much.”

“We have this idea that seriousness is of higher value. But surely there is more human pleasure and delight in time spent with humour than with pondering the great philosophical ideas.”

“Gender is great, and Im happy for anybody to celebrate wherever they are on the gender spectrum. Its got amazingly much easier in my lifetime.”

“I've always liked working with an archetypal design, something functional.”

“I hate to tell this to people but most gods were invented by someone. I'm sorry. It's just that I'm in the present, whereas the famous gods were invented by someone a long time ago.”