David Shrigley

David Shrigley, Lamp Post (as remembered), commissioned by the Creative Foundation for Folkestone Triennial 2017. Image by Thierry Bal.

David Shrigley
Lamp Post (as remembered), 2017

Folkestone's economy is in transition from 'seasonal tourism’ to 'creative industries’. Shrigley's witty sculpture comments on this transition by taking a piece of 'heritage' and re-presenting it as 'creativity'. He invited Camille Biddell, an artist friend from Edinburgh, to visit and memorise (in just 40 seconds) the decorative lamp-posts along The Leas. The replica she created from memory now stands among the others, playing on a number of clichés: the 'draw' of heritage sites; the images we make as tourists; how memory diverges from reality; the value of 'originality', 'authenticity' and 'heritage' and how all these can be subverted or revived by a contemporary creative twist.

David Shrigley is widely known for his weekly cartoons for the Guardian newspaper (since 2005), his distinctive drawing style, and the satirical, deadpan humour that pervades his work. He is not constrained by other people’s ideas about ‘art’ and fearlessly engages with culture more broadly. While drawing is his core activity, he works across an extensive range of media including sculpture, large-scale installation, animation, publishing, painting, photography, music and merchandise for events.

Shrigley was a Turner Prize nominee in 2013, following his major – and hugely successful - mid-career retrospective at the Hayward Gallery, London entitled ‘Brain Activity'.  In 2015 he designed a mascot called Kingsley for the Scottish football team Partick Thistle. His bronze of an erect thumb, Really Good, was exhibited on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square from September 2016.

Recent solo exhibitions include; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Massachusetts, USA (2016); Two Rooms Gallery, Auckland Arts Festival, Auckland, New Zealand (2015); National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2014-2015); Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany (2014); 2013); Mumbai Art Rooms, Mumbai, India (2012); Turku Art Museum, Finland (2011) and Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway (2009).

David Shrigley was born in 1968 in Macclesfield, UK. He is now based in Brighton, England.

Find more of David Shrigley's work.