David Shrigley: ‘Very strange, figurative, slushy, squishy paintings — I love that aesthetic'

Of course David Shrigley lives in Brighton. Where else would you find a man who painted a bird with the words ‘I am flying to London to shit on the government’, and who created an uncannily proportioned thumbs up, which reads ‘I approve of your stupid ideas’?

Case in point: when I ask David about the last thing he bought for himself, he replies: ‘Vegan Doc Martens.’ So Brighton. He has lunch together with his small and very young team of staff most days, which I am invited to join when I visit. Also very Brighton.

David’s distinctive line drawings and paintings, often featuring sarcastic or absurd one liners, can now be found on everything from a keyring to the finest hotels, museums or restaurants. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2013 and appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2020. Quite the journey from Macclesfield, where he was born in 1968.

He looks much younger than his 58 years and has a boyish quality when I meet him at his Brighton studio (a sign reading ‘Nap in progress’ is stuck to the outside of his door). ‘I’ve had quite a lifestyle change in recent years where I don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t do drugs and don’t eat bread,’ he says.

And that’s not the only change. He has a book coming out, an anthology of writing of ‘flash fiction’ that’s been compiled over the course of 14 years. ‘I started writing on long-haul flights,’ David says. ‘I find it very hard to write and I don’t consider myself to be a literary person — I’m the person who makes the pictures — but increasingly, I guess I have realised that text is very important to my work.’

On average, David would write continuously for about 10 hours, until his laptop battery ran out. He has a sister who lives in New Zealand, so this method of working from aeroplanes ‘facilitated quite a lot of writing’. He also has a show coming up at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in south London next year that will be more in his comfort zone, where he will respond to some works of the Old Masters.

Of the book, David says: ‘It feels very different from everything else I’ve done. I don’t know how confident I am about it, but it’s exciting. When you feel you’re at the beginning of something, that is always the best way to feel.’

Your aesthetic hero

Off the top of my head it would be Philip Guston, the American painter who became very famous in the 1970s for painting cartoonish pictures of domestic scenes. There was a massive retrospective of his at The Tate two years or so ago. He has become incredibly influential for contemporary painters. Just very strange, figurative, slushy, squishy paintings. I love that aesthetic.

Your favourite painting

It has to be a Philip Guston one. One of those paintings of his that shows a figure in bed smoking, that would have to be it. He also made a lot of really beautiful charcoal drawings over the years.

The last thing of note that you bought for yourself

I bought some vegan Doc Martens. I had a revelation when we got a dog 14 years ago. When she was a puppy we had a house in the country in Devon and out of the window there was a field of sheep and there was one little black lamb. Without my glasses on it could have been her, and I thought: ‘Why is one of those creatures my dearest companion and one of those creatures my dinner?’ I stopped eating meat at that moment, but I still sometimes eat fish.

A possession you would never sell

Probably one of my guitars. Probably all of my guitars, actually. I mean, the first guitar — those things are important, you know — was bought at a moment when music was really important to me and it’s something which I learned to do that I am still quite good at. It has no value but it opened a door for me at that time and it’s representative of a life experience, so for that reason it would be something I’d never touch.

A book you’ve found inspiring

I read a lot and I think that your literary tastes change a lot when you get older, because you always discover new writers. In any given year you discover a couple of writers that you’ve never read before. For example, a writer I started reading quite recently is Denis Johnson. He died in 2017. His first book is called Angels and it's about substance abuse problems, but it’s really beautiful. He himself suffered from addiction, and his prose is just the most beautiful you could read. His most famous work is a novel called Tree of Smoke, which is set in Vietnam. It’s amazing.

An exhibition that has really impressed you

There was an exhibition in 2009 called ‘Sensational Fix’, about the band Sonic Youth, one of my favourite bands. They had a history of collaborating with contemporary artists when it came to their album art. This exhibition pulled together all those collaborations that they did. It was really great, and really unexpected because it was part museum exhibit and also documented a period of time.

The music you work to

I do listen to music, but I don’t tend to put it on when I’m painting. Something I have been listening to a lot recently is Tom Ravenscroft on Rinse FM. It’s a really great mix of music that isn’t from Western Europe or North America, and very odd stuff, as well as lots of dance music. He is very enthusiastic about what he plays, which I really love.

The last podcast you listened to

The Rest is History.

Who would play you in a film of your life

Benedict Cumberbatch. I’m sort of a bit socially awkward, and I think he could do that quite well.

What you’d take with you to a desert island

A solar-panel powered rice cooker.

The items you collect

I make most of my guitars, so that's not really a collection. Whenever I go out for a fancy dinner I take the name card with my name on it. I’ve probably got hundreds of them now. They’re in an envelope in my filing cabinet, filed under my name. The thing is, also, I’m a little bit obsessive compulsive, so I worry that if I don’t take it, something bad will happen.

A hotel you could go back and back to

The Premier Inn by Dalston Junction, because it’s right by Cafe OTO, and I cannot be arsed to get the late train back if I’ve been to a show there.

The thing that gets you up in the morning

Seagulls. They make such a racket.

The most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten

I have some great stories of fine dining, Michelin-starred restaurants, however I think when you have a lot of really fancy food you crave things that are much more simple. I think the best experience I have had is making sushi on a boat after having caught the fish myself. However, one of the nicest things I’ve done recently is in Devon, where our second house is. There were sprats washing up on the beach and you can just go along and pick them up and it's the most sustainable form of fishing you can do — either you eat them, or the seagulls do.

The best present you’ve ever received

My grandad used to be a joiner and when he moved out of his house he gave me all of his tools, which I’ve still got. One is a massive screwdriver. It’s the most useful thing ever. It’s way better than an actual electric screwdriver because you can get so much more torque on it.

‘Creative Writing’ by David Shrigley is out today, in all good bookshops.