A David Shrigley inspired 'lost' poster

David Shrigley

I like the work of David Shrigley and I have researched his work in the past. After visiting his exhibition, I found this sign online again and wanted to create my own sign. I like Shrigley's lost poster because of the humour of the piece. I too wanted to produce something that could have the same effect on the on looker. Although, it is not as funny as the work of Shrigley I hoped for my audience to like it. Unlike Shrigley I based my work on a fictional character; Wally from the "Where's Wally?" books (See images below). I remembered these books from my childhood and I thought creating a sign that played on this idea of a lost Wally would stand out to the passer-by's. Shrigley made his poster very simple done in black marker pen on white lined paper. This makes the poster look more realistic, and it is not until read that we realise that this is a joke. I think making it simple also makes the details more clear, and stand out as letters are capitalized. With my poster I wanted it to look quite realistic and used scrap paper, and pen to create a paper. I used handwriting which was not too fancy, in hope that it would stand-out as real.

Source: http://blogs.ccs.northants.sch.uk/

This is the Wally character I based my work one from the "Where's Wally?" books.

My David Shrigley inspired 'lost' poster.

Source of David Shrigley image: http://www.davidshrigley.com/

Photographer and Artist

David Shrigley

Although the above is not a portrait of a person, I do believe it is a portrait of an object. This is the work of David Shrigley a British artist who works with a range of mediums to present his different animation, paintings, photography, sculptures and drawings. The piece created in 2002 is entitled ‘Hot Dog’, and shows a hot dog laid on the bed under the covers. The photography quality appears quite low and may have been done with a film camera giving it a graining effect, which adds a sort of gritty atmosphere. The resolution of the image is low, and vibrant colouring has not been added to the photograph. It does add a more natural effect, and could have been done to make the image although unrealistic appear similar to a human if in the same situation.

The photograph is quite small only 400 x 300mm. Taking up most of the image is the bed and the floor, with the small hot dog character upon the bed. Using lightly coloured fabric for the bed sheets allows for the hot dog to stand out because of its brown colour, and therefore will stand out against the white.

The image is quite surreal, and Shrigley has personified the hot dog putting it in human situations. Little googly eyes have been put on to the hot dog, giving it facial features, this add humour to the photograph and I thin kit works well. The work of David Shrigley is often humorous, and quirky.

I really like his style of work in particular his illustrations and photography. Shrigley’s work is quite individual and stands out. I like how Shrigley mixes humour and art, and it works well. I think Shrigley will influence my work, because when looking at ‘Encounters, Experiences and Meetings’ the theme of the exam, Shrigley’s work is often focusing on subjects relating to the theme. I will also look further into his illustration work, because I like the style of his work. Below are more examples of Shrigley's photography work.