Cycle of Violence

Since winning the Turner Prize in 2003, the celebrated transvestite potter Grayson Perry (born 1960) has become something of a national institution in the U.K. In 1992, some while before he became known, Atlas Press published Perry´s sole graphic novel, Cycle of Violence, the nightmarish tale of a young cyclist and transvestite, now reprinted in a handsome hardcover edition. Of the work´s genesis, Perry wrote: "When I was 12 or 13 I drew a series of short comic strip adventures featuring an idealized male hero. When puberty hit me those boys´ own tales became increasingly kinky, involving much cross-dressing and bondage. Sadly these reports from my young subconscious were lost in the upheavals of adolescence. Twenty years later I drew Cycles of Violence while facing up to becoming a father myself, and once again my imagination became an open wound.".