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The Book of Shrigley
Pop artist David Shrigley's work is immediate, sometimes rude, and very funny, "like a psychotic version of Matt Groening's 'Life in Hell' cartoons" ( The Guardian ). His darkly brilliant, addictively hilarious scrawls from the subconscious have already made him a star in the UK, with a growing legion of fans around the globe. The Book of Shrigley is the most extensive and the first widely available showcase of his edgy but accessible off-kilter vision. Here are bad-tempered pets, strange attractions, work, S-E-X, knitting, wrestling, and a host of other everyday activities, dangers, and amusements laid bare in Shrigley's urgently illustrated panels and wickedly mischievous punch lines. Made up of almost entirely new work and bursting with color and unsettlingly funny truths, The Book of Shrigley is the ideal introduction to this comic genius and the book fans have been waiting for.
244 pages, Paperback
First published August 11, 2005
7 people are currently reading
320 people want to read
About the author
David Shrigley
74 books126 followersDavid Shrigley is a Glasgow-based artist. He attended City of Leicester Polytechnic's Art and Design course in 1987-1988, and subsequently studied Environmental Art at the Glasgow School of Art from 1988-1991. Shrigley is a lifelong supporter of Nottingham Forest FC.
Although he works in various media, he is best known for his mordantly humorous cartoons released in softcover books or postcard packs.
Like the poet Ivor Cutler, Shrigley finds humour in flat depictions of the inconsequential, the unavailing and the bizarre - although he is far fonder of violent or otherwise disquieting subject matter. Shrigley's work has two of the characteristics often encountered in outsider art - an odd viewpoint, and (in some of his work) a deliberately limited technique. His freehand line is often weak, which jars with his frequent use of a ruler; his forms are often very crude; and annotations in his drawings are poorly executed and frequently contain crossings-out (In authentic outsider art, the artist has no choice but to produce work in his or her own way, even if that work is unconventional in content and inept in execution. In contrast, it is likely that Shrigley has chosen his style and range of subject matter for comic effect).
As well as authoring several books, he directed the video for Blur's 'Good Song' and also for Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's 'Agnes Queen of Sorrow'. From 2005 he has contributed a cartoon for The Guardian's Weekend magazine every Saturday. He is represented in Paris by the by Yvon Lambert Gallery, and in 2005 designed a London Underground leaflet cover.
David Shrigley co-directed an animate!-commissioned film with award-winning director Chris Shepherd called Who I Am And What I Want, based on Shrigley's book of the same title. Kevin Eldon voiced its main character, Pete. He also produced a series of drawings and t-shirt designs for the 2006 Triptych festival, a Scottish music festival lasting for three to four days in three cities. He has also designed twelve different covers for Deerhoof's 2007 record, Friend Opportunity.
The name of Jason Mraz's third studio album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. is a reference to a piece of art by Shrigley which caught Mraz's attention while he was travelling through Scotland
Although he works in various media, he is best known for his mordantly humorous cartoons released in softcover books or postcard packs.
Like the poet Ivor Cutler, Shrigley finds humour in flat depictions of the inconsequential, the unavailing and the bizarre - although he is far fonder of violent or otherwise disquieting subject matter. Shrigley's work has two of the characteristics often encountered in outsider art - an odd viewpoint, and (in some of his work) a deliberately limited technique. His freehand line is often weak, which jars with his frequent use of a ruler; his forms are often very crude; and annotations in his drawings are poorly executed and frequently contain crossings-out (In authentic outsider art, the artist has no choice but to produce work in his or her own way, even if that work is unconventional in content and inept in execution. In contrast, it is likely that Shrigley has chosen his style and range of subject matter for comic effect).
As well as authoring several books, he directed the video for Blur's 'Good Song' and also for Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's 'Agnes Queen of Sorrow'. From 2005 he has contributed a cartoon for The Guardian's Weekend magazine every Saturday. He is represented in Paris by the by Yvon Lambert Gallery, and in 2005 designed a London Underground leaflet cover.
David Shrigley co-directed an animate!-commissioned film with award-winning director Chris Shepherd called Who I Am And What I Want, based on Shrigley's book of the same title. Kevin Eldon voiced its main character, Pete. He also produced a series of drawings and t-shirt designs for the 2006 Triptych festival, a Scottish music festival lasting for three to four days in three cities. He has also designed twelve different covers for Deerhoof's 2007 record, Friend Opportunity.
The name of Jason Mraz's third studio album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. is a reference to a piece of art by Shrigley which caught Mraz's attention while he was travelling through Scotland
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
May 14, 2009
Some reasons why I love this book:
1. It is literally laugh-out-loud hilarious.
2. It is big.
3. It is printed on nice paper.
4. It comes with a ribbon marker that has a special message printed on it.
5. The artist isn’t afraid to use the word “Twat.”
6. I would never have known about it were it not for Goodreads (Thanks, David).
Oh, I tried to make the paper sculpture. If you remember the book, you’ll know what I am referring to. This is what I ended up with:
If you’re reading this review, you may kind of know me, but you may not know that I was painfully shy as a child. One day in elementary school art class we were making Thanksgiving turkeys by tracing our hands. We had a substitute teacher, and I can’t remember exactly what he wanted us to do, but in my zeal to color the feathers, I got a little ahead of him and didn’t use a ruler or something (the memory is fuzzy). Anyway, he grabbed my turkey and held it up in front of the class while saying very loudly that it was an example of a poorly done turkey and that this is what happened when you didn’t follow directions. As you can imagine, I was mortified and somewhat traumatized.
Looking at my paper sculpture above, let’s just say that now I know why he yelled at me.
1. It is literally laugh-out-loud hilarious.
2. It is big.
3. It is printed on nice paper.
4. It comes with a ribbon marker that has a special message printed on it.
5. The artist isn’t afraid to use the word “Twat.”
6. I would never have known about it were it not for Goodreads (Thanks, David).
Oh, I tried to make the paper sculpture. If you remember the book, you’ll know what I am referring to. This is what I ended up with:
If you’re reading this review, you may kind of know me, but you may not know that I was painfully shy as a child. One day in elementary school art class we were making Thanksgiving turkeys by tracing our hands. We had a substitute teacher, and I can’t remember exactly what he wanted us to do, but in my zeal to color the feathers, I got a little ahead of him and didn’t use a ruler or something (the memory is fuzzy). Anyway, he grabbed my turkey and held it up in front of the class while saying very loudly that it was an example of a poorly done turkey and that this is what happened when you didn’t follow directions. As you can imagine, I was mortified and somewhat traumatized.
Looking at my paper sculpture above, let’s just say that now I know why he yelled at me.
August 21, 2008
My life has surely improved since being introduced to David Shrigley by Comrade, aka David (of GR-fame). First off, the bright yellow cover with orange band (mine is orange, not violet as pictured) and goofy face are bound to cheer you...open the thick book and you're in Shrigley-land, a world of off-beat humor that's near impossible to describe. Shrigley's idiosyncratic drawings and handwriting, his lists and found objects are surprising, funny, sometimes tinged with sadness, sometimes provocative, always delightfully original. Here are some that I think might work here (something is lost of course in transcription, as they are not printed in Shrigley's distinctive scrawl):
"Once I saw some text written down on a page. It wasn't printed but hand-written in black (ink, I presume) probably with some fairly sophisticated writing tool (definitely not a stick, possibly a ball-point pen). Since I cannot read I do not know what it said. It might have been written in a foreign language or have been obscene. It might have been important or it might have been very trivial; I just don't know. I still wonder about it sometimes when I am watching my girlfriend read the newspaper."
NO TOURNAMENT
First Louse: Let's have a tournament.
Second Louse: What kind of tournament?
First Louse: A tournament to see who is the better between us
Second louse: To what end?
Fist Louse: To establish dominance.
Second Louse: But we are lice and have no hierarchy. We do not even have names.
Note: Not everyone will appreciate his worldview, it goes without saying. I thought my son who's 15 might like the book. He looked it over, "What do you call this kind of art?" was his unimpressed response. My cats however appeared to enjoy it as they sat near me while I read it, cover to cover.
"Once I saw some text written down on a page. It wasn't printed but hand-written in black (ink, I presume) probably with some fairly sophisticated writing tool (definitely not a stick, possibly a ball-point pen). Since I cannot read I do not know what it said. It might have been written in a foreign language or have been obscene. It might have been important or it might have been very trivial; I just don't know. I still wonder about it sometimes when I am watching my girlfriend read the newspaper."
NO TOURNAMENT
First Louse: Let's have a tournament.
Second Louse: What kind of tournament?
First Louse: A tournament to see who is the better between us
Second louse: To what end?
Fist Louse: To establish dominance.
Second Louse: But we are lice and have no hierarchy. We do not even have names.
Note: Not everyone will appreciate his worldview, it goes without saying. I thought my son who's 15 might like the book. He looked it over, "What do you call this kind of art?" was his unimpressed response. My cats however appeared to enjoy it as they sat near me while I read it, cover to cover.
June 12, 2008
My copy finally arrived! I went to the bookstore, sat down with a cup of coffee and managed to destroy a few pages with coffee spew. Trying to read the book while driving, I nearly ran over a few old ladies and almost crashed into the side of a bus!
The humor is the most bizzare, ridiculous, goofy humor EVER. I love it. Some of my favorites include a picture of a knot, with the word "knot". At the bottom: "fuck the knot". (this struck me as insanely funny) Also pants wetting funny was the drawing of him going up the stairs to collect an award and the audience calling him "twat". CRIPES!!
The kid who ordered the book for me looked the book over and was also amused. He ended up ordering more Shrigley books for the store shelves... which just might find a way home to mine.
The humor is the most bizzare, ridiculous, goofy humor EVER. I love it. Some of my favorites include a picture of a knot, with the word "knot". At the bottom: "fuck the knot". (this struck me as insanely funny) Also pants wetting funny was the drawing of him going up the stairs to collect an award and the audience calling him "twat". CRIPES!!
The kid who ordered the book for me looked the book over and was also amused. He ended up ordering more Shrigley books for the store shelves... which just might find a way home to mine.
October 12, 2007
This book is one of my favorite things ever.
December 4, 2008
The real Bible.
February 25, 2009
brilliant
August 26, 2021
Somewhere between 3 and a 4 stars.
If Raymond Pettibon is punk, David Shrigley is more of a grunge sensibility.
His work is hit or miss. The best examples seem at first juvenile scrawls but reveal themselves to be deeply poetic, and unique. There are a few of those in this book.
Some poetry anthologies show the limitations rather than the breadth of an poet. I feel that way about this book.
If Raymond Pettibon is punk, David Shrigley is more of a grunge sensibility.
His work is hit or miss. The best examples seem at first juvenile scrawls but reveal themselves to be deeply poetic, and unique. There are a few of those in this book.
Some poetry anthologies show the limitations rather than the breadth of an poet. I feel that way about this book.
May 21, 2022
All very adequate
Dave is at the end of the tunnel
Yeild
Dave is at the end of the tunnel
Yeild
October 30, 2024
TYPES OF PERSONALITY:
WITHDRAWN
OBSESSIVE
CONFRONTATIONAL
DEFORMED PERSON
NUDIST
TATTOOS
POLICEMAN
TRANS-SEXUAL
CORPSE
TALKATIVE
WITHDRAWN
OBSESSIVE
CONFRONTATIONAL
DEFORMED PERSON
NUDIST
TATTOOS
POLICEMAN
TRANS-SEXUAL
CORPSE
TALKATIVE
August 29, 2007
Many people would not like this based on the style of drawings. Which are often scriblish. that is a real word, huh. but, man. surreal without just being odd for the sake of it, childlike without being simplified, Shrigley exposes greater truths with just a couple lines and a few bits of text. And isn't that what art is *really* about?
Probably the funniest book I read this year, I intend to send it to people as a present lots.
April 9, 2009
There's some great bits in here. It's not really a sit-down/slog-through one, but if you're feeling inarticulately grumpy or, god forbid, discombobulated, it's a good I Ching kind of toy. Randomly open it and you'll both laugh and cringe. There are a few good tattoo ideas in there, like "Depth". The printed ribbon is pretty sweet.
The only thing it's lacking is being properly inscribed as a gift from my roommates.
The only thing it's lacking is being properly inscribed as a gift from my roommates.
July 25, 2013
A very entertaining collection of David Shrigley's work. The book doesn't give any insight to the man that creates these bizarre, funny, and sometimes shocking drawings, but any insight really isn't needed. Not all the drawings and ramblings are great, but the majority are. David Shrigley is able to give great twisted views of real world events. A great introduction for those that are not familiar with with work.
June 6, 2011
One of the few poets I'll recommend to absolutely anyone. You can breeze through any one of his books in about an hour and it's like putting a red filter over your brain that makes everything look sick and gross. Good for a rainy day! Check out his website here, good stuff all around.
June 3, 2007
sometimes i find his art to be crappy just for the sake of filling up space in an otherwise genius collection of crap. but this book is the definitive shrigley, where every other page is a bright golden turd buttressed with smaller peasant turds.
...POOO RULES!!##@!
...POOO RULES!!##@!
October 29, 2008
I'm sorry, but I guess this type of humor is over my head. I chuckled maybe twice. Then I read the reviews on the back and it likenend this author's work to Matt Groening's Life in Hell series. That makes sense, I don't get the LIH series either. I guess this just isn't my type of humor.
June 2, 2008
this is the best illustration book that i have ever read. it contains a very unique execution of thoughts and ideas, and it is really interesting to grasp his artworks. this book will enrich your life :)
March 2, 2007
hilarious
June 30, 2007
David Shrigley's conscientiously bad drawings some how couch some of the most profound insights into what art is, and can be that I have ever encountered. And they're damned funny.
July 4, 2007
YEAAAAAH!!!!!
So Cool!!!
So Cool!!!
September 13, 2007
he's funny.
September 18, 2007
super absurdly cutting humor about the follies of thought, you'd think Shrigley was a 4-year-old genius from the style of drawings and text - what is he like in the flesh?
February 7, 2008
whoa, funny.
April 13, 2021
I much preferred What the Hell Are You Doing?: The Essential David Shrigley.
June 25, 2008
A fantastic remedy for those days when you know you are just taking life WAY too seriously.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews