Overview
For Art Basel Hong Kong 2021, Stephen Friedman Gallery is pleased to present a solo presentation of new and recent works by British artist David Shrigley. The booth brings together Shrigley's iconic drawing and print practice and his large-scale neon works. All works on display are reserved for visitors and collectors from Asia during the two preview days of the fair.
For Art Basel Hong Kong 2021, Stephen Friedman Gallery is pleased to present a solo presentation of new and recent works by British artist David Shrigley. The booth brings together Shrigley's iconic drawing and print practice and his large-scale neon works. All works on display are reserved for visitors and collectors from Asia during the two preview days of the fair.
One highlight of the presentation is the launch of a new colourful screen print in an edition of 125 created especially for the fair. Once the fair is open to the public further editions will be released to collectors worldwide.
Shrigley is renowned for his works that make satirical comments on everyday situations and human interactions. The focus of the display consists of forty unique A3 drawings rendered in black and white as well as colour which have never been offered before for sale. The artist's drawings created in black ink are typically accompanied by writing in the form of a question, confession or explanatory note with a faux-naive quality, while the colour works capture childlike ideas and snippets of conversation. Also on display is a neon work which humorously undermines formal associations with signs or advertisements. Available as an edition of three, this vibrant, witty work brings a playful energy to the presentation.
All the artworks presented are available to purchase directly through scanning three unique QR codes, one for the print, one for the neon work and one for the drawings. Shrigley provides guidance in his signature satirical style in the form of wall vinyl text, rendered in his own distinctive handwriting. This innovative format chimes with Shrigley's immediate visual language and extends his interest in operating beyond the conventional gallery space.
The presentation coincides with Shrigley’s project for Maison Ruinart, where he was named Artist Carte Blanche in 2020. David Shrigley will present solo exhibitions at Stephen Friedman Gallery in November 2021 and at K Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul in December 2021.
One highlight of the presentation is the launch of a new colourful screen print in an edition of 125 created especially for the fair. Once the fair is open to the public further editions will be released to collectors worldwide.
Shrigley is renowned for his works that make satirical comments on everyday situations and human interactions. The focus of the display consists of forty unique A3 drawings rendered in black and white as well as colour which have never been offered before for sale. The artist's drawings created in black ink are typically accompanied by writing in the form of a question, confession or explanatory note with a faux-naive quality, while the colour works capture childlike ideas and snippets of conversation. Also on display is a neon work which humorously undermines formal associations with signs or advertisements. Available as an edition of three, this vibrant, witty work brings a playful energy to the presentation.
All the artworks presented are available to purchase directly through scanning three unique QR codes, one for the print, one for the neon work and one for the drawings. Shrigley provides guidance in his signature satirical style in the form of wall vinyl text, rendered in his own distinctive handwriting. This innovative format chimes with Shrigley's immediate visual language and extends his interest in operating beyond the conventional gallery space.
The presentation coincides with Shrigley’s project for Maison Ruinart, where he was named Artist Carte Blanche in 2020. David Shrigley will present solo exhibitions at Stephen Friedman Gallery in November 2021 and at K Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul in December 2021.
David Shrigley was born in 1968 in Macclesfield, UK. He lives and works in Brighton, UK. Shrigley was a Turner Prize nominee in 2013, following his major mid-career retrospective at the Hayward Gallery, London titled ‘Brain Activity'. In September 2016, his monumental sculpture ‘Really Good' was unveiled in Trafalgar Square, London for the Fourth Plinth Commission. From 2015 to 2018 the British Council-organised exhibition 'Lose Your Mind' travelled to six venues including Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China; Storage by Hyundai Card in Seoul, Korea and Instituto-Cultural-Cabañas in Guadalajara, Mexico. In January 2020 Shrigley was awarded the decoration of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire or OBE. The artist currently has an on-going presentation in the Gallery at Sketch, London as part of a long-term programme of artist-conceived restaurants.
Installation Views
David Shrigley is best known for his distinctive drawing style and works that are deadpan in humour. He first made prints while studying at Glasgow School of Art by experimenting with woodcuts, lithographs, etchings and monoprints. His screenprints, however, are a more recent development in his practice. The artist explains, “the motivation for making them was that in the last seven or eight years I've made a lot of colour work on paper, acrylic paint on paper and I'm really aware that when you make works on paper they disappear quite quickly.” Shrigley continues, “I found that making screenprints was a way of kind of keeping hold of the work… it allows for the work still to be around somehow and for it to be seen in a lot of different places.”
Recurring themes and thoughts pervade Shrigley’s screenprints, capturing child-like views of the world, the perspective of animals and the appreciation or criticism of music. These quick-witted works often reveal chance utterings and snippets of overheard conversations. This new edition depicts an ‘Old Dog’ accompanied by the declaration “I still love you” rendered in the artist’s distinctive handwriting.
Black and White Drawings
Colour Drawings
Neon
‘Exibition’ is a large-scale, yellow neon work that showcases David Shrigley’s caustic sense of humour. Rendered in his distinctive handwriting, the artist’s neons convey nonsensical messages that deliberately undermine their own authority as signs or advertisements.
Shrigley’s neon plays on the very conceptual basis of a sign. To have any function, a sign must conform to assumptions and convey a clear message. Though authoritative in form, Shrigley’s neon is impractical as a sign and indeed contains a deliberate misspelling. In co-opting the format of street signs or advertisements and replacing the typically informative text with amusing, deadpan statements, Shrigley’s neons contradict their own presumed credibility. At once playful and mischievous, these neons are described by the artist as ‘interventional signage’.
Shrigley is best known for his distinctive drawing style and works that make satirical comments on everyday situations and human interactions. His quick-witted drawings and hand-rendered texts are typically deadpan in their humour and explore the absurdities of everyday life. The comical writing in ‘Exibition’ takes a central feature of Shrigley’s practice and presents it into a vibrant, new medium.
DAVID SHRIGLEY, b. 1968, United Kingdom
David Shrigley's quick-witted drawings and hand-rendered texts are typically deadpan in their humour and reveal chance utterings like snippets of over-heard conversations. Recurring themes and thoughts pervade his storytelling, capturing child-like views of the world, the perspective of aliens and monsters or the compulsive habits of an eavesdropper shouting out loud. While drawing is at the centre of his practice, Shrigley also works across an extensive range of media including sculpture, large-scale installation, animation, painting, photography and music. Shrigley consistently seeks to widen his audience by operating outside the gallery sphere, including producing artist publications and creating collaborative music projects.
Shrigley was a Turner Prize nominee in 2013, following his major mid-career retrospective at the Hayward Gallery, London titled 'Brain Activity'. In September 2016, his monumental sculpture 'Really Good' was unveiled in Trafalgar Square, London for the Fourth Plinth Commission. From 2015 to 2018 the British Council-organised exhibition 'Lose Your Mind' travelled to six venues including Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China; Storage by Hyundai Card in Seoul, Korea and Instituto-Cultural-Cabañas in Guadalajara, Mexico. In January 2020 Shrigley was awarded the decoration of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire or OBE. In March 2020, Ruinart Champagne announced Shrigley as its Artist Carte Blanche for 2020. The artist currently has an on-going presentation in the Gallery at Sketch, London as part of a long-term programme of artist-conceived restaurants.
