Published by Particular Books
The large font of Turner Prize-winning, cross-dressing artist Grayson Perry’s Playing To The Gallery performs a dual function; not only does it beef up the rather slight volume but it also screams accessibility.
This is exactly the point of the book, a published version of The Reith Lectures Perry delivered for the BBC in 2013, which offer a sort of potted beginner’s guide to art history, theory and criticism in a chatty yet rigorous style.
The book may be slim in proportions but there’s plenty of intellectual meat on its bones to chew over while reading. Perry certainly knows his stuff – essential for anyone attempting to summarise complex material without sacrificing nuance.
Questions such as ‘What counts as art?’ are addressed, explained and examined, given a bit of background and a few artistic examples to test against. But, and this is what makes the book truly successful, Perry avoids giving a pat answer, often leaving the reader with food for thought.
This is not done to frustrate or perplex, however. Rather, like any good teacher, Perry wants to equip the non-expert, untrained public with the tools and confidence with which to look at, question and enjoy contemporary art.