archiveshrigley

David Shrigley, Sleep, 2008, Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.

David Shrigley: Anarchy, Poignancy, and Absurdity

David Shrigley, Cheers 2008, Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.

Baltic Centre
for Contemporary Art
Gateshead Quays
South Shore Road
+44 (0)191 478 1810
Gateshead
Ground Floor Gallery
David Shrigley
September 10-November 9, 2008

Scottish-based artist David Shrigley's new exhibition features new work and consists of previously unseen animations and sculptures.

David Shrigley is perhaps best known for his intuitive drawings that are typically dead-pan in their humour. His cartoon-like sketches are deliberately dysfunctional and deal with everyday doubts and fears of the human condition. Throughout the work a nonsensical and anarchic voice is ever present. With hand-written, unedited texts or assigned titles altering the perspective, the artistic results range from poignant to absurd. His work often asks questions about the nature of contemporary art and its audience. He parodies the excess of the culture market and his rapidly executed and sometimes crudely made sculptures suggest a desire to exploit and question its logic.

Within the enclosed Ground Floor Gallery the visitor will first discover a collection of sculptures. Moving to the rear of the space (located within projection cubicles) are two new black and white animated films Sleep (2008) and Lightswitch (2007).

In sculpture, Shrigley plays with the form creating curious and eccentric propositions by transforming everyday objects or playing with scale. This exhibition will include new sculptural works which continue these interests such as Cheers, a pair of grey fishing waders and Wellington boots filled with expanding foam. Other recent works have included stuffed animals and doors, as well as tents and sleeping bags filled with foam that grows uncontrollably, allowing the artist little influence over the final form.

Death and destruction also features strongly in Shrigley’s work and presented for the first time at Baltic is Gravestone, a macabre life-sized stone engraving.

In addition to an extensive international exhibition profile, Shrigley’s work has become widely known through appearances in newspapers, including since 2005, a weekly contribution to The Guardian. His animation has also gained a broad appeal through commissions such as Who I Am And What I Want for Channel 4 and a promotional video for Brit Pop band Blur’s Good Song. Recent projects have included the album Worried Noodles (Tom Lab, 2007) where musicians have interpreted his writings as lyrics; collaborators included David Byrne, Hot Chip and Franz Ferdinand.

A new edition of his book Grip, published by Redstone Press, will be on sale at Baltic Shop .

David Shrigley has exhibited widely in the UK and around the world. He is currently participating at Life On Mars, 55th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh. His work was included in To The Wall, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado and Cult Fiction, Hayward Gallery touring exhibition, traveling to various venues within the UK (2007/2008). Forthcoming solo presentations will be held at Centre d’Art Santa Monica, Barcelona and Spain (2008).

Recent solo exhibitions include Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden (2007); Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos, Burgos, Spain (2007) and Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Scotland (2006). Recent group exhibitions include Learn to Read, Tate Modern, London, UK (2007); Momentary Momentum, Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, London, UK (2007) and Under God's Hammer: William Blake versus David Shrigley, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, WA (2006).

David Shrigley, Lightswitch, 2007, Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.

David Shrigley, film still from Who I Am and What I Want, David Shrigley and Chris Shepherd, 2005, 7 min 23 sec.

God May Be Idle, but not David Shrigley

David Shrigley, film still from Who I Am and What I Want, David Shrigley and Chris Shepherd, 2005, 7 min 23 sec.

Stephen Friedman Gallery
25-28 Old Burlington Street
+44 20 7494 1434
London
David Shrigley
29 November 2007-19 January 2008

GOD IS IDLE exclaimed a monumental wall painting included in David Shrigley's recent solo exhibition at the Malmö Konsthall in Sweden. In Shrigley's world we might very well assume that God is idle; dark, troubling, parodic and often contradictory thoughts and actions spiral wildly out of control.

Shrigley’s drawings and hand-rendered texts are dead-pan in their humor and reveal chance utterings like snippets of over-heard conversations. Shrigley's voice is ever present in his artwork, using a disjunctive form of narrative that recalls the nonsensical and anarchic writing of Spike Milligan or the haphazard comedy of The Goon Show — the famous comedy troupe that introduced a Dada sensibility to a depressed post-war Britain. Reccurring themes and thoughts pervade his story-telling capturing child-like views of the world, the perspective of aliens and monsters or the compulsive habits of an eavesdropper shouting out loud.

In his sculptural works, the artist makes physical some of his more curious and eccentric propositions by transforming found objects or by playing with their scale. Taking Lewis Carroll's perspective of Wonderland, Shrigley enlarges objects and imbues them with silly proportions. In recent works pet carriers, tents and sleeping bags have been filled with expanding foam filler — a building material which grows out of control, giving the artist little or no influence over the outcome. These shelters appear to be uninhabited suggesting that a major toxic disaster has occurred. Death and destruction are ever-present in Shrigley's work. In this exhibition the artist develops this preoccupation by presenting a dead kitten, stuffed and shown standing erect on its hind legs in protest.

David Shrigley's art frequently asks questions about the nature of contemporary art and its audience. He parodies the excessive and ridiculous aspects of the culture market and his rapidly executed and sometimes crudely made art suggest a compulsive desire to exploit and question the logic of contemporary art. Expressed in an extensive and expanding range of media, David Shrigley consistently seeks to widen his public. Operating frequently outside the gallery sphere, the artist disseminates his ideas in his weekly contribution to The Guardian, prolific publishing projects, collaborations with musicians and an interactive website.

Recent Shrigley projects include the newly released album — Worried Noodles (Tom Lab, 2007) where musicians interpret his writings as lyrics, including collaborations by David Byrne, Hot Chip and Franz Ferdinand. His latest artist's book is entitled Ants Have Sex in Your Beer, published by Redstone Press in 2007.

David Shrigley has exhibited widely in the UK and around the world. His work is currently on view in To The Wall, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado (through December 2007) and Cult Fiction, Hayward Gallery touring exhibition, travelling to various venues in the UK (2007/2008). Upcoming solo presentations are set for Centre d’Art Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain (2008) and BAWAG Foundation, Vienna, Austria (2008). Recent solo exhibitions include Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden (2007); Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos, Burgos, Spain (2007) and Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Scotland (2006). Recent group exhibitions include Learn to Read, Tate Modern, London, UK (2007); Momentary Momentum, Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, London, UK (2007) and Under Gods Hammer: William Blake versus David Shrigley, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia. (2006).

David Shrigley, film still from Who I Am and What I Want, David Shrigley and Chris Shepherd, 2005, 7 min 23 sec.