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David Shrigley

The Artist

David Shrigley
The Artist

In this work, a disembodied creator – literally a head in a cheap wig – zooms around a blank canvas, drawing and circling via the mechanism of a simple engine and two marker pens housed within its funny, flaring nostrils.


We might wonder if this robot artist represents Shrigley’s alter ego. Perhaps Shrigley was inspired by the Surrealist concept of automatism, in which the artist suppresses his reason and active decision-making to work via the unconscious mind. This idea of an artist who simply draws whatever passes through his head is realised here with comedy and bite.

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