STUDIO SPECIAL
going all right! That’s when I really enjoy it. I quite often do my best work as well because I’m relaxed.
Do you have a strict routine in your studio? Yeah. It’s quite a long way from my house so when I get on my motorbike that’s a transitional moment. I arrive in the studio and then I’m in studio mode. I’m a 10-to-5 person. In the country I might put in a few more hours.
What’s the difference between the studio in the country and the studio in town? I tend to do the sculptures in the country and the pots in town. In the country, it’s a lot bigger in terms of ceiling height, so I can do my more ambitious things there. It’s quite nice also for doing drawings in, because it’s hellishly quiet.
Is there a discernable difference in the work you produce in a rural context as against an urban context? I wouldn’t want to have just the country studio. It would be too nice looking out of the window and seeing trees and sheep and sky and all that! It’s really uninspiring! If I ever feel like I need to give myself a kick up the arse, I go for a walk round the North Circular or something. Somewhere really ugly. I find that much more interesting, and ordinary. From my studio in the country I can walk straight out to the South Downs, and there’s the sea, and it’s all classically beautiful. That for me is always a burden.
Do you carry a notebook and write down ideas in it? I have things I’m obsessed by. Big pots can take a couple of weeks to build, so I’ve got a couple of weeks to think, What’s this pot going to be about? I’ll be looking at books, I’ll be researching things or whatever, starting to take photographs that I might use in the transfers.
Has success made your studio life easier, or does it come with a burden of expectations? That is the big problem. I think of it as if I’ve got an amphitheatre in my head. You start to have an idea and it’s like the orchestra is tuning up. Then the people start coming in and going,
Artists & Illustrators 31
‘I wonder what he’s going to do this time?’ That feeling of an audience in your head can be incredibly inhibiting. Also if you’re dealing with an exhibition in an important place like the British Museum, it’s going to have
DIRTY BUSINESS… YOU DON’T GO TO THE STUDIO IN A NICE DRESS
“ ” MAKING POTTERY IS A
a huge audience and publicity. You’re also dealing with a big budget. So you’re thinking, Whooooah! This could be a bad idea and I’ve just spent X thousand pounds on it!
What about Claire [Grayson’s transsexual alter-ego] and the studio? Claire never goes to the studio. Making pottery is a dirty business. You don’t go to the studio in a nice dress. You want to be totally relaxed. I dress up as Claire when other people are dressed up, when I go out to an opening or a party, or I might dress up for lunch.
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