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David Shrigley:
New Friends, 2006
Animation, Duration: 1 minute, Edition of 6 + 1AP
(c) David Shrigley, Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
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The exhibition begins with the short animation »New Friends« by Glasgow-based artist David Shrigley. Shrigley is one of a new generation of artists that has turned increasingly to the medium of drawing. With his reduced, draft-like style and his off-the-wall humour, Shrigley is one of the most important draughtsmen of our times. He rose to international fame through his pictures done in black ink—seemingly harmless doodles which on closer inspection reveal themselves as dark, ironic commentaries on current affairs. Much like Kafka’s »Metamorphosis« or Samuel Beckett’s »Endgame«, he takes the world to the point of absurdity, as critics of the 39-year-old artist have noted.
Shrigley’s works are not the outcome of long periods of creative labour, but spontaneous manifestations born in the twinkling of an eye. His drawings and animations revolve around everyday matters, and often are simple mirrors of everyday concerns or reflections on how we behave. It was in this context that the short story for »New Friends« came about, the story of a square which with some gentle force became a circle. The tale is quickly told: an army of small, uniform squares comes marching in step and with frosty mien through the countryside. Military marches set the rhythm. Quite unexpectedly, one square falls into a black circular hole in the ground. Screaming in terror, it hurtles down a shaft to land rudely but uninjured far below, not knowing where it is. The soft sounds of a lively dance tune strike up and the square sets off in the direction of the music to find a group of circles that are dancing and playing instruments. His face brightens at once; the square jiggles its hips and joins the merry party. After short hallos and introductions, two circles come up to the square, lift it up and carry it off over the heads of the others to an enormous buzz saw. Not even the loudest protests are to any avail: the square’s edges and corners are sawn off and in a jiffy it is transformed into a circle.
Shrigley uses two elementary forms—square and circle—and presents the transition from a rigid, right-angled order symbolized by the army of identical marching squares, to a group of relaxed individuals in the form of circles playing music. Through this deep fall, which proves here to be a liberating event, the artist describes the squaring of the circle as a simple question of handiwork. Through its newly-won friendship it shows in the end the kinship between these two geometrical elements.
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