David Shrigley

David Shrigley has only one rule for his art

David Shrigley was born in Macclesfield in Cheshire on 17 September 1968, but moved at the age of two with his parents to Oadby in Leicestershire. He took an art and design course at the polytechnic in Leicester in 1987 before moving to Galsgow to study environmental art at the Glasgow School of Art until 1991. With his – in his opinion: brilliant – graduate show, ahead of the rise of the Young British Artists (YBAs) in the late 1980s, Shrigley was only able to convince his examiners to a certain extent. Despite this, he remained true to his concept of art, which from the start dealt much with improvisation and spontaneity. One of the artist’s most important principles to this day is to refrain from later corrections. “It is, what it is”, he says of his work. Re-painting is out of the question so as not to dilute the inspiration. 

Amusing pictures, serious subjects and black humor

David Shrigley does not just accept the unperfect in his way of working, but actually seeks it out. His drawings sometimes suggest slipshod scribbles, his texts ooze spelling mistakes. That is both an expression of his wry humour and a continued grounding of the modern art scene to which he himself belongs whilst not being uncritical of it. Behind the glaring colourfulness of his works are also hidden often dark and serious themes. As well as paintings and sculptures, David Shrigley also createsksculptural works which even made use of animal taxidermy: The blackly humourous work I’m Dead from 2010 shows a stuffed dog standing on its hind legs with a sign in its paws announcing its demise. Alongside the fine arts, Shrigley also creates texts and sounds, working for example for the band Blur as director on the music video Good Song, whilst artists such as Franz Ferdinand and David Byrne interpreted his texts for the album Worried Noodles.

Shrigley’s motifs are also commercially successful

AT the start of his career, David Shrigley had to work as a gallery guide at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow to earn a living before he was able to establish himself as an internationally recognised full-time artist. During this time, however, he self-published his collected drawings in books. Today, Shrigley’s work can not only be seen in numerous exhibitions around the world, but also enjoys great popularity in the commercial sector in the form of posters, greetings cards, record covers and t-shirts. In 2015 he designed a mascot for the Scottish football team Patick Thistle, but it caused more amusement than enthusiasm. David Shrigley has received prizes and awards for his art, including a nomination for the renowned Turner Prize in 2013, an honourary doctorate from the De Montfort University in Leicester in 2014, and the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2020.

David Shrigley lives and works in Brighton.