Signs. A large black gong sculpture positioned in the center of the gallery with a variety of signs, such as flags, scrolls and banners, neon and cast bronze texts.
In this fifth solo exhibition at Anton Kern Gallery, entitled
Signs, Glasgow-based artist David Shrigley surrounds a large black gong
sculpture positioned in the center of the gallery with a variety of signs,
such as flags, scrolls and banners, neon and cast bronze texts, as well as
lino-cut and letterset texts and poems.
As the sound of a gong usually
signals a special moment (e.g. waking, eating, starting a movie, or ending
a yoga session), Shrigley’s sculptural rendering of the percussion
instrument sets the tone for the artist’s insightful exploration of semiotics,
the study of signs and the relation between signs and the things to which
they refer.
To his word strategies, Shrigley adds a key ingredient, the concept of the sign and its origin in agreement or
convention (such as full stop signifying the end of a sentence). For a sign to have any effect it must be based on
common attitudes. Making signs, as opposed to hand-drawn works on paper, enables Shrigley to expand his
techniques, e.g. the recognition of unexpected shifts in viewpoints, or the collision of different frames of reference,
into a wider, more public range. He turns the sign inside out as if reverting it to an earlier state of innocence where
conventions were not yet fully formed.
A neon sign reading “Hot Dog Repair” not only combines disparate terms (the
ephemeral with the permanent) in a surprising way but also presents itself in the authoritative shape of a shop sign
and thereby turning the agreed-upon convention of what is a reasonable and generally accepted service topsy-turvy.
Similarly, Shrigley’s lino-cut, letterset poems and texts, reminiscent of word-related art ranging from Concrete Poetry
to Christopher Wool’s paintings, present characteristic Shrigleyesque thoughts however much less individualized (no
handwriting) but rather subversively conventionalized (cut out and printed letters). Stepping away from the markedly
handmade towards the more indirect and mechanized process of sign-making lifts the works in this exhibition onto a
new level of humor as semiotic critique. Shrigley’s signs commandingly undermine their own presumed authority. A
sense of liberation prevails!
With over 40 books to his name, David Shrigley is a well-published author and artist. Recent solo exhibitions have
been held at the Hayward Gallery, London; the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; and the
Cornerhouse Gallery, Manchester (all 2012). Shrigley has participated in group shows such as Funny, Flag Art
Foundation, New York; Zoo, Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal, Montreal (both 2012); A Sense of Humor, Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI; Life on Mars: 55 Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (2008); and Learn to Read, Tate Modern, London (2007).
Opening: Thursday, January 10 from 6 - 8pm
Anton Kern Gallery
532 West 20th Street, New York
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am - 6 pm
Free Admission