DAVID SHRIGLEY

patryze santos

design | media arts 155

typography in motion

research project

spring 2010

assignment

DAVID SHRIGLEY

The creative work of media artist, David Shrigley is primarily comprised of ink drawings on paper, photography, and sculptures. He directs film and animation and has even recorded some original music, but Shrigley is most widely known for an amateurish absence of style, which is a characteristic of his iconic illustrations.

Though some might consider Shrigley’s artwork unprofessional, his black and white ink drawings have become recognizable by many who are familiar with his aphoric compositions and stylistic instability. His intentional disorderliness distinguishes his creations from the methodology of professional illustrators.

Shrigley is the author of over thirty books, which compile representational drawings reflective of the artist’s general observations. He transforms his thoughts into “pseudo-declarations” of public interest. In addition, these publications feature a collection of made-up inventories, perplexing stories, useless instructions, incomprehensible summary tables, and similar nonsensical “forms manifesting pathological meticulousness.”

An eccentric approach to art allows Shrigley to break free from the monotony of “specialization” and establish a more direct relationship with his audience. In the apparent absence of any clear style, you can receive these drawings (which often appear in the form of pages of handwritten text) as if they were addressed to you personally, “like a message left for a close friend or relative on the dining room table or on the fridge.”

introduction

DAVID SHRIGLEY

David Shrigley was born on September 17, 1968 in Macclesfield—a city located in Central England. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art from 1988 until 1991. For most of the early 1990s, his work appeared either in his own publications, including Slug Trails, 1991, and Blanket of Filth, 1994, or could be found in public spaces.

Shrigley left the Glasgow School of Art in 1991 with dreams of becoming a cartoonist. He redrew illustrations he had made during his time as a student, structuring them in a way he believed constituted a cartoon format, along with which he self-published his first two books. However, no magazines or newspapers were interested in his cartoons, and most bookshops were reluctant to stock his books.

Blanket of Filth, which Shrigley self-published in 1994, contained drawings taken directly from a notebook “without any attempt to make them look nice.” On the strength of his third publication, the author was commissioned to make an artist’s book by Bookworks in London—the first audience to show an interest in David Shrigley’s work.

During his first years following art school, Shrigley made public artworks around his neighborhood and had a studio where he made and destroyed sculptures. In 1991, the artist collaborated with a group of architects to redevelop a site in the Possilpark area of Glasgow, consisting of a park and a play area (The site was heavily vandalised almost immediately).

Shrigley’s work has been exhibited widely in Europe and North America and featured in various newspapers and magazines. David Shrigley currently lives and works in Glasgow under the representation of the Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.

background

DAVID SHRIGLEY

“All my work is pretty intuitive; I think it must be fairly evident. I have starting points, but I have no idea where I’m going.”—David Shrigley

David Shrigley’s collection of works bears the appearance of disorder, yet it is organized in books published by the artist. These books also foster confusion regarding their own status since they could be taken for comic books.

While a professional would set out to develop an immediately recognizable “script,” Shrigley insists on clumsily sputtering from one drawing to another, as if every drawing were the first and progress impermissible. Shrigley deliberately uses blotches, score-outs, blank pages, and typographical marks to draw attention to the paradoxical status of the artist, and to the work’s status as an artifact.

Shrigley’s photographs have become progressively involved with issues that traditionally concern fine art photographers, rather than acting as documents of ambient works. His diptych photographs explore juxtaposition and illustrates dichotomies drawn from everyday life, such as in A Graveyard vs. A Rollercoaster.

His scultpures don’t have the same degree of roughness as his drawings; they are normally quite finished and cartoon-like, or how drawings would look if they were to come to life. Shrigley’s objects conjure up more than any of his non-realist drawings, employing the schematized aesthetic of cartoons, “and they draw part of their strangeness from the fact that they give the impression of an artificial passge into the third dimension.”

work

DAVID SHRIGLEY

David Shrigley’s distinct style is significant in the context of visual communication. He is a chronicler of modern life, primarily filling this role in his drawings, in which he unleashes his humor. His photographs are like general views of his exclusively textual drawings placed in a specific context. His means of expressions answer to one another and rely on each other. They allow the artist to indefinitely expand the scope of his observations and preoccupations.

The artist explores different forms and textures to communicate with his audience. The distinguishability of his work contributes to his success in advertising and signage. After spending a few seconds in front of each Shrigley drawing or photograph, it is easy to understand what has provoked curiosity and interest among advertising professionals.

significance

DAVID SHRIGLEY

Even though art takes many physical forms, the work of David Shrigley has truely made me question what can can constitute as an art form. Shrigley has created pieces from opinion, humor, and intellect—intrinsic materials. He has employed the art of persuasion and the intricacies of satire. His drawings and photographs are merely manifestations of his observations and not his observations themselves. They are, more often than not, an incomprensible collage of nonsense that only the artist can truly understand the basis of.

So which is the embodiment of creativity in the case of David Shrigley? His distinct clever voice and aptitude for rhetoric that has no physical form before it is transferred to concrete materials? Or his illustrations and signs which can in many cases be classified as amateur scrawlings on a page?

David Shrigley makes art from anything and everything that emerges from his mind. By doing so he has establishes his voice and his attitude within each of his works. He has been able to make a living as an artist by simply staying awake. His scribbling requires no skill and yet it has all of the success of years of professional schooling in art and design.

His recognition in today’s society comes from an inherent spirit in his art. In this sense, he serves as his own medium for creativity while illustrations and photographs are partial representations of himself. He is his own art.

conclusion

DAVID SHRIGLEY

Books_

David Shrigley, Blanket of Filth (Glasgow: The Armpit Press, 1994).

David Shrigley, Who I am and What I Want (London: Redstone Press, 2003).

David Shrigley, Red Book (London: Red Book , 2009).

WEBSITES_

David Shrigley, “David Shrigley”, http://www.davidshrigley.com/.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, “David Shrigley”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Shrigley.

references