I recently went to the Hayward Gallery to visit the David Shrigley exhibition, 'Brain Activity.' This exhibition extends much further than the humourous, witty drawings he is best known for, with 240 works also including photographs, sculptures, paintings and animations.
I have always been a big fan of Shrigley’s random, dead-pan, scratchy doodles and there is a whole wall dedicated to these. I also really enjoyed the animations and photographs on show – yet more examples of his one liner humour which has you laughing out loud.
Shrigley’s sculptures (including a headless ostrich and a stuffed Jack Russell puppy holding a placard that says “I’m Dead”) seem less engaging and slightly more novelty.
Walking around the gallery you may question whether anything you are viewing is, or even should be, considered ‘art’ but what you certainly don’t question is how compelling and undeniably funny Shrigley’s work is. I am particularly fond of the animation below...
'Brain Activity’ at The Hayward Gallery is on until May 13th 2012.