Have you ever been to Shanghai, he asks me straightaway. It’s easy to get an idea of the curious mind behind his unique art in just a few seconds. “It really doesn’t look like it’s in a communist country,” he says. The friendly, calm voice on the other end of the line gives the impression that we could probably keep talking about Shanghai for another half-hour or so.

Shrigley has just arrived back in the UK from another destination on his tour that has been showcasing his art around the world. Over the past two years, the tour has made stops in Mexico, Chile, South Korea, New Zealand and now, last on the list, China. Most famous for his drawings accompanied with text, slogans and puns, Shrigley is an artist who is not particularly easy to get a grip of. His CV lists sculptures, large installations, animations, paintings, photography and music, contributing to a complex description of an artist. Among the many projects that have got the attention of the public, there have been collaborations with musicians including Franz Ferdinand and Blur, and his giant, 7-metre-high thumb, entitled Really Good, in Trafalgar Square, London. “I’ve kind of worked in almost every media there is,” he says, laughing. “Maybe apart from dance, but dance is on its way, you know. I’m sure it will arrive in the future.”

Growing up, his heroes were Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, and he took to the pen at an early age. After graduating from art school in the early 1990s, he returned to what he knew best. With limited funds and space, he came to create what soon would be the foundation and centre of his oeuvre. “It was the easiest and most economical way to say what I wanted to say. I have done it for my entire life. I never really intended that it be the centre of my practice, but I realised that it was my thing, so that was what it became,” he says.

After publishing his second book filled with the characteristic drawings, Shrigley ended up on the cover of what he describes as a “fancy” art magazine. “All of a sudden, everyone knew who I was, and that was that.” That was 23 years ago, and his work hasn’t stopped amusing and amazing people. “I never intended to be the ‘go-to guy’ for making funny drawings in the world of fine arts. But I sort of have become that guy,” he says. His style is truly unique in the art world, maybe best described as straightforward and simple, yet magnetic. His pieces are anything but boring – and the process isn’t either, he admits. “I’m trying to amuse myself all the time, not just to make myself laugh, but amuse myself in the sense that I’m trying to get to a place I have never been to before, and trying to do that by just making drawings a lot of the time.”

So is it art? Is it good? And who says so? Shrigley has come to challenge many basic norms of the art world since making his entry more than 20 years ago. Today, he looks at himself, his art and its place in different light. “So, the work is funny. I mean, it’s sort of unique in the world of fine art, in that it genuinely functions as comedy as well as art. It’s been a thing I always end up talking about – making funny art, and can funny art be serious, or taken seriously as art? And it’s a question I don’t really care about any more. Who cares, really? Who cares whether people take it seriously? I mean, people do take it seriously. I drive a brand-new Volvo, so… ” he says before breaking into laughter.

When asked to try to explain the success he has experienced over the years, he laughs again. “I never intended to be a success, but I’m very happy that I am. It was never anything I anticipated, and I really just do what comes naturally. I mean, my job is just to make art that I think is interesting, because I can’t expect anybody else to think it’s interesting unless I do.”

And now, his installation Exhibition of Giant Inflatable Swan-things, created exclusively for the Spritmuseum in Stockholm, is about to open. Unsurprisingly, the installation originates from what Shrigley calls a “bizarre idea”. From a typical Shrigley drawing, giant, three-dimensional swans designed as swimming-pool toys took shape. “There is something weirdly fascinating about changing shapes. Inflation and deflation, there is something about breathing, life and death somehow,” he says in a slightly dreamy voice. While nothing is quite as it seems in Shrigley’s universe, one thing is for sure: watching his work never gets boring.

Exhibition of the Giant Inflatable Swan-things, until March 31, 2019; Spritmuseum, Stockholm. For more information, visit spritmuseum.se or davidshrigley.com

Team credits: 

Words by Ted Hammerin
Artist: David Shrigley

Art & Photo credits: 

#1 Headshot by Craig Gibson 
#2 Self-portrait (2018) 
#3 Gold-shit (2018)
#4 A Pleasing Situation (2018)
#5 Knock Everything Down (2018) 
#6 Lies (2018) 
#7 Your Pizza has Arrived (2018) 
#8 4th Plint (2017), Photography by Linda Jablonsky 

“Curiosity has always been a strong driving force for me, and my creations require me to push myself to achieve something for every separate layer. I love discovering and understanding new things before even considering the actual construction and implementation, which my team works on. Preparing a photography session is like planning an adventure or a small film shoot, and all the organisational requirements this entails gives my life balance.”

Goudal’s starting point is her own extensive research through which she’s searching for environments that catches her interest and that moves her in one way or another. Her way of working is both time-consuming and minutely detailed, and her endless journeys and expeditions all around the globe have come to have a strong impact on her art. Goudal finds sections from nature and cityscapes, frozen moments and extremely thought-out cutouts that she photographs and puts together with large placed-in photo prints. The photographs are constructed as theatrical sets. Appearing almost as optic illusions, Goudal’s scenes and landscapes are brought to life by her unique, eye-catching compositions. The build up of the pictures acts as a connection between earth and sky and between the observer and what lies behind the image, beyond our knowledge. In this way Goudal manages to capture more than just a moment in time, more than specific a place, overturning the the fundamental laws of nature and architecture.

The second you lay eyes on Goudal’s art, you float into a kind of infinity where you find yourself closer and closer to her art, both physically and spiritually. Standing there, with the tip of your nose almost touching the large photographs, you perceive their structure but still can’t quite make out the construction of the images. This is one the things that makes Goudal unique – her ability to both expose and reveal at the same time. In that moment, when you feel that everything is completely inexplicable, you can’t help but wonder if you are actually there, on that street, on that beach, or in that jungle – or if you are just dreaming after all. Maybe this is exactly what Goudal wants the viewers to experience – the sense of not knowing and the need to use one’s eyes and imagination. Drawing inspiration from both Renaissance and Baroque art, Goudal is no stranger to using visual tricks and multiple perspectives, inviting the observer to contemplate her art.

Her artworks are not only pictures with strikingly centered compositions, they are also two-dimensional sculptures that dare to take up the kind of space they need to tell their own, unique stories. They engage all of our senses – and using the full depth of your imagination, you can almost feel the cold air sweeping against your skin, hear the ocean curling up against the shore, and smell the fragrance of the massive object that you are curiously staring at. It’s hard not to feel anything surrounded by Goudal’s imposing and deeply moving art, which will continue to challenge our sense of space, reality and time for years to come. As Goudal herself puts it “a picture is a space you can live in.” Head over to Fotografiska to experience it yourself.

Exhibition “Stations” until November 18, 2018; Fotografiska, Stockholm. For more information, visit www.fotografiska.com 

Team credits: 

Artist & Photographer: Noémie Goudal 
Words by Melinda Urbansdotter

Photo credits:

#1 Station V
#2 Observatoire VIII (Pulpit 2)
#3 Observatoire VI (Stalingrad)
#4 Station VIII
#5 Station VII