David Shrigley

David Shrigley

David Shrigley is a Glasgow-based artist born in Macclesfield and brought up in Oadby, Leicestershire. He studies art and design at City of Leicester Polytechnic in 1987-1988, then attends Glasgow School of Art from 1988 to 1991, graduating from the school’s Environmental Art course.

Work and style

His work appears in a range of media, but he is best known for cartoons published in softcover books and postcard packs. He also shows environmental art on his website. His drawings often use plain, crude forms, weak freehand lines, ruler-drawn elements and heavily annotated text, with crossings-out left visible. His humour focuses on the inconsequential, the awkward and the bizarre, often with violent or unsettling subject matter.

Books, music and film

He writes several books and directs the video for Blur’s Good Song. He also co-directs Who I Am And What I Want, an animate!-commissioned film based on his book of the same title, with Chris Shepherd; Kevin Eldon voices the central character, Pete. He designs twelve covers for Deerhoof’s Friend Opportunity and creates drawings and T-shirt designs for the 2006 Triptych festival.

Press and exhibition work

From 2005 he contributes a cartoon every Saturday to the Guardian’s Weekend magazine. His work is exhibited internationally, and he is represented in Paris by Yvon Lambert Gallery.