David Shrigley at the Cornerhouse

One of the visits I’ve been on while I’ve been on my creative hiatus was David Shrigley’s exhibition at The Cornerhouse in Manchester. He coined his work into a book as well, titled “How Are You Feeling?”

To me, Shrigley has this kind of urgent, messy style, where getting his message across is perhaps more important than how the work looks. I like this idea that it doesn’t really matter if the drawing is basic, as long as you can tell what it is, then that’s fine. Its something I have long preoccupied myself with, striving to get a perfect picture when I don’t have a perfect style. I like messy, so why not stay messy?!

I think that the sheer volume Shrigley has to share motivates this urgency in the work. The exhibition was across two floors; the walls were literally covered with excerpts from the book, and there were even displays in the middle of the floor. He has a lot of messages, but sticks to a common theme, this instance being how people feel about common situations. I admire his work a lot because it reminds me of things I should be doing every day to keep myself thinking as a creative person; whatever ideas he has, he writes down, draws, explains, changes, and this is what I should be doing every day, on my break, before bed, when I’m having my breakfast. Otherwise how can one ever have enough work to showcase in this way. But its also relevant. It’s not random scribbles, each piece makes sense and ties into the next one. It is these kind of messages I want to show in my work as well.

Probably the most influential part of Shrigley’s work for me though is the type he uses. Everything, everything, is hand written, with respect! You will be able to easily tell that he has influenced me when you see my pieces, although they are very different. He keeps his messy, outlining, capitals, use of spacing inconsistent, whereas with my work I need to give myself some boundaries, so have only taken elements and explored my type from there.

Shrigley is currently one of my biggest influences so there might be a few more posts about him and some of his more recent work, but he is a constant reminder that I should care less about what others think but just do more more more (something my tutors always told me).