MORE THAN 100 WORKS REPRESENTED IN FIRST U.S. MUSEUM EXHIBITION OF BRITISH ARTIST DAVID SHRIGLEY TO BE PRESENTED BY THE CENTER FOR CURATORIAL STUDIES Exhibition opens September 30 concurrent with an exhibition of works on paper from the Marieluise Hesse
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-More than 100 works by British artist David Shrigley are featured in his premiere U.S. museum exhibition, presented this fall by the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College. The exhibition, which will be on view from Sunday, September 30 through Friday, December 14, includes drawings, photographs, and sculptures by the Glasgow-based artist. Shrigley ". . . draws with a beautiful clear line yet it's his ideas that take on physical weight ," according to Jonathan Jones of the Guardian.
Shrigley's hilarious and disturbing doodles, sculptures, and anecdotes depict the world as an absurd place. He embraces the paranoias, obsessions (stalking is a favorite theme), insecurities, moral conundrums, preoccupations, and anxieties of everyday life. Everyone is fair game for his humor, from the British royal family to his peers in the art world. From the childlike renderings and messy handwriting of his drawings to the spontaneous "public" projects documented in photographs to his playful sculptures, his work is anti-monumental and whimsical, but inherently sincere. "David Shrigley takes the world as it is and provides a humorous strategy for getting on with it," according to Amada Cruz, curator of the exhibition and director of the CCS Museum.
Shrigley emerged as an artist during the 1990s and has had his work shown in Europe, Australia, and Canada. He has participated in exhibitions at the Consejería de Cultura, Madrid (2001); the Secession, Vienna (1998); and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1996). His work was selected last year for both the British Art Show 5 and Beck's Futures at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.
A tour of European venues is planned following the exhibition's premiere at the CCS. A catalogue with essays by Cruz and Russell Ferguson, deputy director for exhibitions and chief curator of the UCLA Hammer Museum, will accompany the exhibition.
In addition to the Shrigley exhibition, there will be an exhibition of works on paper, dating from the 1960s to the present, by a diverse group of artists such as Rosemarie Trockel, Carroll Dunham, Raymond Pettibon, Kiki Smith, Jim Nutt, and Shahzia Sikander. The exhibition is drawn from the Marieluise Hessel Collection, which is on permanent loan to the Center for Curatorial Studies. Amada Cruz will curate both exhibitions.
On September 30, the day of the exhibition openings, free bus transportation will be available from New York City to the Center for Curatorial Studies. A chartered bus will leave from SoHo at 11:00 a.m. and depart from the Center at 4:00 p.m. Reservations are required and can be made by calling the Center at 845-758-7598 no later than Friday, September 28. Transportation is provided through the generosity of Howard and Donna Stone.
The museum is open to the public, without charge, Wednesdays through Sundays from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. An artists' reception will take place on Sunday, September 30, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
These exhibitions have been made possible by a grant from Marieluise Hessel. For further information about the exhibitions, call the Center for Curatorial Studies at 845-758-7598; e-mail [email protected]; or visit www.bard.edu/ccs.
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[Note to editors-Photographs are available, in slide or electronic form, by request. Call
845-758-7512 or e-mail [email protected] for information.]