Shrigley Quotes & Sayings

I don't like theorizing about my work myself, but that's not to say I have no interest in theory. Other people are free to say what they want about my work. — David Shrigley

The camera is an eye that sees and records the lives of filthy people. Its pictures are hung in museums and published in thick books that future generations can see how horrible life was. — David Shrigley

I think my books are better than my exhibitions. If people don't like my books then I don't mind. I guess you like them enough to write an essay about them so that makes me pretty happy. — David Shrigley

Algae is the perfect food plant. It doubles cell mass every twelve hours, depending on the strain. — Homaro Cantu

Our deepest fear is judgment. Our deepest longing is love. The gospel of grace removes the one and provides the other. — Tullian Tchividjian

The larger the crowd, the more probable that that which it praises is folly, and the more improbable that it is truth; and the most improbable of all that it is any eternal truth. — Soren Kierkegaard

I guess I must just be obsessed with death. Apparently you think about it a lot more as you get older. Maybe you could chart how when I was in my 20s I talked about sex all the time, and in my 40s it's just death. — David Shrigley

Also CSPAN is really the great treasure of the media as far as getting information. — William Hurt

I'm never really that worried about doing something a little different, 'cause it always just seems to fit into what I want to do. — David Shrigley

I like making books but I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing. Perhaps I just try to arrange a bunch of seemingly random drawings into something that makes a vague narrative sense. Sometimes it sort of makes sense, sometimes it doesn't. — David Shrigley

What movement! What restlessness! Even the mountains can't stand still. — Marty Rubin

Sometimes commercial galleries ask for particular work to sell, but I try not to be bossed around by them. I didn't become an artist to get bossed around. — David Shrigley

I don't want to just spend my life ridiculing something that I find ridiculous, although there is an element of satire in my work. — David Shrigley

I don't draw every day. I tend to draw intensely during certain periods of time. I draw to amuse myself on occasion, when I am bored and drawing is the only fun to be had. — David Shrigley

I don't think I've ever made any conscious decision to be a comic artist, but to me there's something quite anarchic about comedy. — David Shrigley

I'm going out with these old guys. One guy gave me a hickey and left his teeth in my neck. Another man, we were having a perfectly lovely dinner; he looked up and me and went: You're not my wife! Another guy died during dinner. I had to go in his pocket to get the American Express card. Then you wonder: What would he tip? Another guy said: I want you to meet my family, and took me to the cemetery. — Joan Rivers

He makes me feel all jiggly inside. STOP FEELING. Stop caring. — Julie Anne Peters

I like comedy but I guess I don't think [my art] is that funny, either. It's too dark and a bit weird in places to be genuinely, uniformly hilarious and function as comedy. — David Shrigley

I'm not pretending to be somebody who's got really limited craft skills. I just am a person who's got really limited craft skills. — David Shrigley

As long as we are grateful, we shall be glad. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Sorry I painted the word 'twat' on your garage door. — David Shrigley

The work, I suppose, is made in the editing, whereby I make literally hundreds of drawings, and then a much smaller percentage of those become the finished work. — David Shrigley

I'm definitely not an outsider artist. I'm very much an insider artist. I get written about in art magazines, and I'm not, like, in a mental institution. I'm a regular guy who went to art school. — David Shrigley

Early in my career, I struggled with consistency, but I couldn't get more consistent than this year. — Roger Federer

If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn. — Ray Bradbury

I think circumstance plays a big part in terms of what I do. For example, if I wasn't ever able to show in an art gallery I probably wouldn't really make very much sculpture. But I've had the opportunity to show in big spaces, so I want to fill up that space in the same way you might want to fill up a page. — David Shrigley

I don't really want to tell jokes about trivia; I'd kind of rather tell jokes about things like life and death. — David Shrigley

We do not make mistakes. Surrender at once! Resistance is fertile!"
"Don't you mean futile?"
" ... That's what I said! Surrender or die! — Toby Frost

I guess I just always want to surprise myself and say something that I'm not really quite sure where it came from, and it sort of makes sense and has a kind of profundity to it. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. — David Shrigley

Don't be too brave. Bravery is a fine thing on some occasions, but sometimes it can be quite a dangerous thing. The stiff upper lip is not always the best. — Jeremy Brett

Anything evil that you do will come back at you. — Heather Graham

I am a serious artist in my own right, in the sense that I've spent my entire life being an artist and trying to be an artist and making work. — David Shrigley

I never sat down and decided to make work about life and death. It just all comes out of my head like water pouring out of a jug. — David Shrigley

If I go three days without vocalizing, the voice is gone. — Luciano Pavarotti

A person imbued with compassion and self-understanding can readily love oneself and exhibit endless sympathy for all people. A person who is unkind to their self can never transcend their corrupt barriers much less run into the world with open arms enthusiastically embracing humankind and all of nature with uninhibited friendliness and goodwill. — Kilroy J. Oldster