What the Hell Are You Doing?: The Essential David Shrigley

by David Shrigley

A darkly comic collection of work, this book collects together the best of Shrigley's work, old and new. It is a celebration of the surreal world of one of Britain's finest contemporary artists.

Genres: Art, Comics, Humor, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Comedy, Visual Art

352 pages, Hardcover

First published August 24, 2010

About the author

David 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

Reviews

[L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

i am so excited i am going to the river to drown myself

[Books Ring Mah Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best. Book. Ever.
Shrigley? Yes, Please!

;)

[Phillip Goodman]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA funny stuff from the master of the clever doodle.

P.S. i didn't type out all of that HAHAHAHAHAHA, i typed out a third of it and then copy and pasted it twice.

[♥ Sandi ❣ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars

I find that I am not a Shrigley fan. This is a graphic novel of non sequitur pages ~ some funny, some interesting, some evidently above my head because they had absolutely no meaning to me. This is a book of over 300 pages that can be read within about an hour (basically looked at, since there are very few words applied to the graphics).

I know I am bucking the crowd on this one, but I really did not enjoy this graphic. The illustrations are crude - which would be alright, if they made any sense. Often I felt the captions did not fit the illustrations.

Now I have read a Shrigley book. As I said, I find that I am not a Shrigley fan.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

funny sick. if you like this, you'd probably like gahan wilson (playboy cartoonist).

[F.T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of my favourite artist. I love his non-sequiturs and absurdist humour (and despair). His distinctive handwriting and expressively bad drawings are a good reminder that you don't have to draw well to make good art, if you don't want to.

[Caitlin Maree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes sad, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, and always utterly ridiculous. A great collection of a series of his photographs, comics and scribbles.

[D.K. Powell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me start by stating my credentials:

I'm legally sane;
I'm reputedly reasonably intelligent;
I have several graduate and post-graduate qualifications and training including several in Art History;
I love art - in particularly the Surrealist and Dadaist schools;
I have a staggeringly (possibly obscenely) huge appetite for humour - from moderate, conservative show-in-front-of-your-mother comedy to bizarre watch-on-your-own-while-eating-pot-noodle-secretly strangeness.

All of these points - and most of all the last - make me at least as credible as anyone else to review this supposedly 'essential' collection of David Shrigley's work.

Not to put too fine a point on it: it's shit.

I have wasted hours of my life I'll never get back poring through the pages of this book (bought as a gift for me last Christmas) trying to find things that amuse me or even just make me stop and ponder for a moment. Both are there, I'll admit - and once or twice a page will do both - but there's precious few pages in this rather thick tome which hit the spot.

On the front of my copy is a quote from Harry Hill: "Funny and profound and surprising all at the same time." All I can say is that Harry Hill clearly has no sense of humour and his level of profundity is rather at the shallow end.

Yes, I know, I know - I've just said one of the UK's top comedians has no sense of humour. And I've trashed a well-revered British artist qualified at the Glasgow School of Art and with his works on display at the Tate and MoMA. Although I'd never heard of the chap before, it seems his cartoon work is much loved by many. I guess it must be if they've brought out an 'essential' book?

So I'm sorry, I know that current wisdom and opinion must say I'm wrong, but I'm sticking to my assessment. David Shrigley is a fraud. The artwork is appalling (I looked for depth and purpose to what I suppose is a deliberate effort to make childlike and amateurish work, but couldn't find it) and the humour is almost always based on being shallow or nonsensical. I guess this could be an attempt to bring the spirit of Dada to a new generation but I have to ask: why? There was a point to that movement 100 years ago, as a rebellion against elitist bourgeois art of the 19th century, to shock the public and bring about new thinking. Today these things are taken for granted. Nothing shocks anymore - why should it after 100 years or more of artists and comedians trying? This is the weirdness of Monty Python without the talent, the surreal darkness of The Far Side with the light switched on, in short, the artistic equivalent of Theresa May doing the Maybot dance (but less funny). That last comparison is probably the most accurate. Shrigley is cringeworthy in the extreme.

As I concede, there is some funny pieces in there. I'd tell you a few but I really can't be bothered to plunge back into the book to try and find them, it's too depressing. Instead I'll point you to the front cover - a cow being milked shouting 'WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?' Literally, that's as funny as it gets and I'll admit it made me chuckle - but I say this simply to defend my position again that really, honestly, almost anything will make me laugh and I love to do so. Shrigley failed, on the whole. In that sense, I suppose he is unique - but disappointing nonetheless.

[Kayden Kruchoski · Rating 5 out of 5]

So stupid it’s brilliant

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl · Rating 2 out of 5]

On a recent visit to the library, this book spoke to me from the shelf as I walked past and asked "What the Hell are you Doing?". I thought that was a good question so I picked up the book and walked to the checkout counter.

This volume contains lots of pictures which may make you laugh out loud - with every page you turn, you won't know what to expect - it could be fun!

Actually, I thought I would like this collection much better than I ended up liking it :-( Most of these items are rather mean and not my type of humor.

A couple of favorites near the beginning:
*A woman milking a cow's udders and the cow says "What The Hell Are You Doing?"
*A stuffed dead cat is posed on it's hind legs holding a sign that says: "I'm Dead"





I would like like to get some of these pages enlarged and framed for my wall :-)

[Ilse · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2,5 stars

My rating is a bit harsh on this book because yes I did laugh a few times but I just didn't get most of the humour, I looked at what I was seeing and didn't see what was funny, maybe I shouldn't see that anyway or whatever but most of these were just not my kind of humour.
I was really looking forward to it because I bought his notebook (a collaboration with flying tiger) which I loved and I was so intrigued with his work, sometimes I come across the stuff that brought a smile to my lips but there weren't enough funny ones for me to rate this higher.
(Also it did not help I had a very bad copy of this which made some of them unreadable)

[M · Rating 1 out of 5]

I dont get it, its not for me, guess im not sophisticated enough for art this deep - its what you say when you think some art is utter shit right? Or just nod and move a long.

There were some funny bits though (the mushrooms for example) but overall it weirded me out and I really didnt understand it.

[Krissy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book shortly after it was first released. At the time, i think i thought it was dark and funny”. I revisited this year and found it to be violent, bitter, angry, and sad. I sold it to the bookstore immediately.

[Thomas Rasmussen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shrigley er noget af mit yndlingsfnuller…. Løsrevne og halve tanker og glimt…. Klogt, dumt, blandet, skarpt, sjovt og rigtigt. Eller forkert.

Her er hundredevis og det er lidt mange på en gang. Men jeg ville gerne have én eller to…, som på en måde var mine.

[Eric T. Voigt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect, massive stocking stuffer for 2017's Holiday Season.

[Madhusree · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't always get the jokes& it was quite surreal to read the book.

[Dittar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mildly diverting and amusing way to spend half an hour. It all gets rather samey after a while though. Only recommended if you are unfamiliar with Shrigley's work or a big fan of it.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good, some meh. I liked it tho

[Cristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOL

[Daniel Andreu · Rating 4 out of 5]

No sé qué decir de esto. Es muy absurdo y bizarro, tanto que algunas de las páginas ni siquiera tienen una punchline aunque todo apunta a que la deben tener, lo cual lo hace aún más extraño.

[Albert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Den var nydelig.

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestamente, no sé si es una obra maestra o una fumada monumental.

[Essi Pailinna-Bertell · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Valoa synkkyyteen pilaamaan synkkyyden.”

[Aaro · Rating 2 out of 5]

sanotaanko nyt näin sitten

[zcc]

nice to see photographs from shrigley, I'll seek more of those. Wasn't taken by a lot of the artwork tho - only found out after this is 12 years old and likely why

[Ostap Bender · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s very hard to put my finger on why I find some of Shrigley’s work so funny. To dissect it or to try to describe it doesn’t do it justice, and to analyze it intellectually seems silly (and the type of thing he would happily mock). I’ll just say you have no idea from page to page what you’re going to see next, and that he pokes at how silly we are (or fragile, or mean, or…) with the absurdity of what he draws. Where he really gets me is with the timing and redundancy of some of his lines, and suddenly I find myself laughing out loud. Maybe an acquired taste, and certainly some are funnier than others, but I round up to four stars because of his creativity and inventiveness.

[Kitap · Rating 2 out of 5]

I forgot what it was that led me to check out this book, and I'm glad I did because I would probably hit it by way of saying thanks. I don't get what has folks soiling their beds over this cat. Yes, his stuff is dark and funny, like a dilute solution of Gahan Wilson, and often has a surreal sense that reminds me of Glenn Baxter. Alas, he draws with a style influenced by Daniel Johnston and John Callahan, which is to say like a toddler with a muscle cramp. I guess I just don't get art, or maybe the fine art world is more or less a self-perpetuating delusion of folks with more money than sense or taste. Maybe the fact that Shrigley's stuff exposes that "tension" is why he is so beloved to many. Who the hell knows?

[Rohan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collection of mostly comics and a few photographs, each on its own page. Surreal, absurdist, explicit and often gruesome. Some pages hit home very hard, others did absolutely nothing for me. Every page had something new and unexpected. The art style is both charming and designed to make one feel uneasy at times. Vaguely similar in form (though not in content at all) to Jean Julien's art.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious, abject, shoddy. Magical realism if magic were shit and made you look an idiot. Voices from the last bus and the dawn of time, from dank cells and strip-lit service stations. Against institutional art and other pretences, and against indifference, and against no fun.

[Yoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

He is one crazy dude.