Grayson Perry signs deal to stay at Channel 4 as an 'on-screen social anthropologist'

Grayson Perry, the Turner Prize-winning artist, famed for his ceramic vases and penchant for cross-dressing, has signed an exclusive deal with Channel 4 which will see him acting as an on-screen social anthropologist.

The artist - described by the channel as “being somewhere between William Hogarth and Bruce Parry” - has agreed a two-year contract.

He has recently been seen in three-part series All In The Best Possible Taste, for which he investigated social classes around the UK.

His findings were channelled into a series of tapestries which are on display in London.

Tabitha Jackson , Channel 4’s commissioning editor for arts, said: “His skill not just as an artist, but as an artist-anthropologist somewhere between Hogarth and Parry, gives us a unique opportunity to really explore the texture of contemporary life and to understand it in a different way.”

Perry’s next series will continue to explore his fascination with aesthetics and modern manners.

In Perry’s recent series, he embedded himself with people from across the social spectrum, from the working classes of Sunderland, the middle classes of Tunbridge Wells and the upper classes of the Cotswolds, in a bid to get to grips with Britain’s differing takes on taste.

His created six personal but panoramic tapestries, called “The Vanity of Small Differences”, which are currently on display at the Victoria Miro gallery in London until 11 August.

Born in Chelmsford, Essex, Perry’s ceramic works are inspired by Greek pottery and folk art. He began dressing in women’s clothes as a teenager after coming to the realisation that he was a transvestite.