|
Anne
Trolle Strandfelt is asking David Shrigley a few questions
At what time in your creative development did your work take
the shape it currently has?
I didn't start to make books of my drawings until I left artschool.
I've always done silly drawings but I didn't present them as 'art'
until I started to publish them (around1991).
Where does your inspiration come from? Who/what do you admire
within art&design?
In terms of drawing my influences come mostly from everyday things
like graffiti, found shopping lists and kid's drawings. I like a
lot of contemporary artists. My favourites at the moment are Thomas
Schutte, Tom Friedman and Tim Hawkinson. I like a lot of literature
but I'm not sure quite how it influences me. My favourite writers
are Joseph Conrad, Don DeLillio and Donald Barthelme.
How would you catagorize yourself as an artist?
Where does your work you fit in?
I guess I would categorize myself as an artist just like any other.
I suppose some people think of me as a 'cartoonist' because my drawings
can be seen that way. I'm happy about that because it makes my work
more accessible.
How do you work - what is the structure of your drawings?
My process of drawing is really just an elaborate form of doodling.
I try and make it as spontaneous and intuitive as possible. I try
and forget about the fact that I am making artwork. I just drink
a cup of coffee and off I go.
You come from the generation of "young british artists" (i.e.
Hirst, Hume, Lucas, Turk etc.) what is your opinion of these people
- your contemporaries and that whole art scene?
In a way I don't feel very allied with the people you mention because
they are all products of the London Art scene and I am very much
a product of Glasgow. Though maybe that's just because I don't know
them personally. I think these groupings such as YBA's are more
arbitrary than the writers who invent such terms would like to think.
I feel much closer to artists such as Douglas Gordon, Christine
Borland, Richard Wright, etc. but only because we studied at the
same place and we live in the same place and because they are my
friends. I've never really thought about any similarities between
our art. I don't really have any strong opinions on the British
Art scene as a whole. Some of it I like some of it I don't.
What does ART mean to you?
Art is one of my favourite activities.
Your drawings reflect a paranoid/"slightly"(!) disturbed view on
life are they very personal to you, if yes, to what extend?
I guess my work is personal but it isn't autobiographical. When
I make drawings I think I am pretending to be someone else. Someone
who is a bit crazy.
How do you use humour in your work - how important a tool is
it to you?
I think my work is only funny by accident. I always want to make
art that is poetic and profound but it mostly ends up being funny
instead. I don't know why.
What is your main ambition as an artist?
To make really good art.
|
|