Among the superstar names and self-important pieces that fill many of the booths at Frieze London, there’s always space for a little self-deprecation.
Today, art critic Alastair Sooke talks to the Turner Prize-nominated artist David Shrigley about his drawings, paintings and neon works – and an installation that consists of the drone of extractor fans.
Shrigley isn’t too fussed about highbrow expectations. Standing beside the neon scrawl of “My Artwork is Terrible and I am a Very Bad Person”, he shrugs: “My aim is just to make an intervention in the fair that’s somehow interesting.” He calls this “Gonzo conceptualism”.
As they move onto Shrigley’s unsettling, deadpan drawings, Sooke marvels at the artist’s amiable demeanour. “You have these drawings, which seem so deranged, and yet in person you seem so not-deranged… how does that work?”
They finish in the small installation, talking over the thrumming fans. Shrigley tells Sooke that its origin story is simple: he liked the sound of the fan in the bathroom at the Edinburgh foundry Powderhall Bronze.
“So you liked the comedy?” Sooke asks. “That’s the starting point,” Shrigley agrees, but he adds: “The end-point is this endless ‘om’ – a slightly disturbing one.”
Frieze London and Frieze Masters are open until Sunday in Regent’s Park; https://frieze.com/fairs/frieze-london
