Trying to re-start and getting some new inspiration... Edinburgh, - David Shrigley

Well, it's been  a few weeks since my last blog, sorry that I dropped the bomb-shell about my dear brother passing away so suddenly.  Most of the last few weeks has been spent trying to get my head around what John's finances were all about and also sorting out his home etc.  The funeral arrangements too, which took up a sizeable chunk of my attention, but I'm glad to say, went ahead without any hitches.

So, after all of that, my lovely wife and I spent some time up in Edinburgh, both to get over the loss of John, the funeral etc, but also as a rather muted 15th Wedding Anniversary break.   The good part from an artistic point of view (in addition to having four full days of my wife's attention, and vice-versa), was a visit to Edinburgh's Gallery for Contemporary Art, and also the National Gallery for Scotland.

Both sites are virrtually under one roof, although they do occupy two buildings right in the centre of Edinburgh, just off Prince's Street.

The contemporary gallery was the first one to be scrutinized, - it was here that we found one of my favorite contemporary artists whom I've mentioned in previous blogs, that being one David Shrigley...

I love the simplicity of this artist's work, as it seems he can find humour in the most mundane aspects of "being human"...  The exhibition in Edinburgh courts the usual modus operandi of his, in that pieces are created in simple black & white, yet reflect (metaphorically speaking), the vibrancy of very day living.  

A major feature of this exhibition are the clay / pot wellington boots.  It doesn't take long for me to relise the message David is trrying to convey, - the ease of which he trieshard not to make the visual clues too difficult.  Indeed, he has said in inteerviews, "I don't want my art to be a cryptic crossword puzzle", - in other words, it should be easy for thhe viewer to "get"the gist of his message.         

The exhibition by David Shrigley was (as often isin his case) a slightly tongue-in-cheek observation of what we are all marching towards, that being Death of course.

 Clearly, this was a subject quite near to the bone for me and still very raw in my mind following the previous weeks activities, and yet, I felt that Mr Shrigley had quite sensitively captured a highly poignant theme...  I was not offended in any way by this as his works do have a slightly detached from reality quality about them, and so can easily be accomodated.