The (somewhat harsh) reflections of a gallery attendant who worked at the Grayson Perry | Smash Hits exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy. 

The chin-stroking apes that wander into Grayson Perry are unbearable to listen to. Having paid £20 to look at art which “really does make class accessible”, it’s hard for me not to want to laugh in their faces. Whilst from a visual perspective I really do enjoy looking at his work, I find it quite sad how meaningless and devoid of passion it all is. Much of what can be said about his art is honestly reflected in the audiences that consume it. They (himself included) are completely unaware of their own ignorance. His attempt to be ironic, acting as though the joke is on his visitors and not on himself, paints him out to be a massive hypocrite. I don’t think Grayson has stepped foot in the real world for a long time, or if he has then he needs to open his eyes a bit wider. His “English wankers” skit just feels like a desperate attempt to act like ‘I’m not like the other English people’. I find it hard to believe that he really thinks that his show is more of an ethnographic museum, when he has somehow managed to misrepresent every culture he took inspiration from (apart from the English middle-class one). As a retrospective, it shows that Grayson Perry has not developed in all his time as an artist. There’s a lack of authenticity in this show, which is apparent from the minute you step through the door and see his soulless face blown up everywhere. It is disappointing to see that the biggest living artist in Britain has put on a big show that is just seven rooms of art that he himself finds to be unfulfilling.