David Shrigley

It is with great pleasure that Galleri Nicolai Wallner presents Monotypes, an exhibition with monotypes by David Shrigley.

The monotype represents a special visual expression combining printmaking, painting, and drawing. The artist works by applying pigment that is rolled, brushed, or drawn onto a plate and then, with the paper that is to accept the impression, "pulled" with the use of a press.

The appeal of the monotype lies in the unique translucency that creates a quality of light very different from a painting on paper or a print. The beauty of this media is also in its spontaneity and the ease in reworking images before transferring them to paper. Monotypes are inherently unique because almost all the ink transfers to the paper making it impossible to make more than one print, hence the prefix mono. Accordingly they are valued on the same level as other original works like drawings and paintings.

Shrigley constructs a world of his own upon the rubble of the world. Chaos and dislocation (of the body, society, and language) do not occur obsessively from one work to the next for no reason. Instead they seem to express a fundamental mistrust of the fluency of pictures and transparency of meaning. Nevertheless, the artist is endowed with an exceptional aptitude for producing eye catching images and turning our attention to the absurdities of life.

Shrigley's work is marked by a very distinct style that can be misread as loose and offhand. Though they bear the appearance of disorder - looking like every image was his first, they rather express a very disciplined way of working within specific aesthetic boundaries. The crudeness of the lines belies an artistic temperament that is both meticulous and sensitive.

David Shrigley has shown extensively at galleries and museums in Europe and America including solo shows at Musee d'Art Moderne et Contemporain (Geneva), UCLA Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), and Kunsthaus Zürich.

David Shrigley