Image: David Shrigley, Really Good, 2016. Mini replica statuette in polystone, 29 x 7.5 x 12.5 cm
Shapero Modern in London marked David Shrigley's birthday on September 17 with a newsletter built around one of his best-known images, "Really Good," the thumbs-up hand.
Shrigley unveiled the original in Trafalgar Square on September 29, 2016: a monumental bronze hand making a thumbs-up gesture, commissioned that year for the Fourth Plinth in one of London's most familiar public spaces. The gallery's focus is a mini replica statuette of the work in polystone, 29 by 7.5 by 12.5 centimeters, numbered on the base from an edition of 3,000. In the gallery's words, the piece sums up the witty simplicity now closely associated with the artist.
Born in Macclesfield in 1968 and nominated for the Turner Prize, Shrigley has become one of the most widely recognized contemporary artists. He works in drawing, sculpture, printmaking, photography, animation and writing. His crude-looking lines, stripped-down images and dry humor make his style easy to identify, while the apparent simplicity masks a talent for drawing humor and meaning out of everyday things.
The newsletter also turns to two groups of prints. "Untitled (Fire)," a 2019 screenprint, reduces a flame to a few simple shapes in strong color, so that it feels lively and flickering while keeping the flat, childlike look typical of his work. Three woodcuts from 2005, "Web," "Paper" and "Poison," use one of the oldest printmaking methods. Rather than concealing the grain of the wood or adding the bright color seen elsewhere in his output, they leave the grain visible and keep to black and white, which draws attention to the technique itself.
Shapero Modern is based at 94 New Bond Street in London and is open Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
