Beginning, Middle and End

Shrigley is particularly well known for his drawings. However, he has worked regularly with sculpture since his breakthrough in the mid-1990s. Regardless of his chosen medium, Shrigley is always interested in what may be termed a “sophisticated banality”. His humour and aesthetic are often cartoon-like. He is interested in strange situations, breakdowns of social codes in seemingly trivial situations, and in childhood fascinations with e.g. animals, monsters, and bodily emissions. This work is “re-performed” for each exhibition; the process is initially monitored by the artist himself so that a clay sausage is rolled out and arranged in the room, where it slowly dries out and breaks during the exhibition run. The clay is destroyed when the exhibition is finished. The process is repeated when the work is exhibited again.