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David Shrigley's invitation to Lose Your Mind in Mexico

28 September 2016

Turner Prize-nominated David Shrigley is the latest artist to take over on Traflagar Square’s Fourth Plinth with Really Good – his giant thumbs-up sculpture. We caught up with him last year as his travelling British Council exhibition, Lose Your Mind, arrived in Mexico.

EXCLUSIVE: David Shrigley's Lose Your Mind exhibition

A British Council exhibition. Film produced by Cultureshock Media for BBC Arts.

Best known for his crudely composed and mordantly humorous cartoons, David Shrigley is a highly popular British artist.

Nominated for the Turner Prize in 2013, he has also written books, released spoken-word albums, and designed a terrifying mascot for the Scottish football club, Partick Thistle. Who better to fly the flag for British art abroad?

An artist with a broad portfolio, Shrigley is hard to pigeonhole. Rich with dark wit, his works are as playful as they are challenging.

Rich with dark wit, his works are as playful as they are challenging

Shrigley regularly works across different media. Swapping with ease from graphic, text-heavy drawings to unique, challenging sculptures, he has also provided artwork - and directed - the music video for Blur's Good Song.

Such is his domestic reputation that he has recently been awarded the Fourth Plinth Commission – a prize which will see his work take pride of place in London's Trafalgar Square later in 2016.

Now, his appeal is being celebrated overseas with a touring exhibition of his work, David Shrigley: Lose Your Mind. Organised with the British Council, the show opens in Guadalajara, Mexico before going on tour.

Featuring works as diverse as cartoonish ceramic boots, doodle-like drawings and a headless, stuffed ostrich, the exhibition highlights Shrigley’s lively, irreverent imagination in full flow.

David Shrigley. Photo: Carlos Jimenez.
David Shrigley: Lose Your Mind. Monoprints. © David Shrigley. Courtesy of Instituto Cultural Cabañas, Photo by Marcos García.
David Shrigley: Lose Your Mind. Ostrich, 2009. © David Shrigley. Courtesy of Instituto Cultural Cabañas, Photo by Marcos García.
David Shrigley: Lose Your Mind. Cheers, 2007. © David Shrigley. Courtesy of Instituto Cultural Cabañas, Photo by Marcos García.
David Shrigley: Lose Your Mind. Boots. © David Shrigley. Courtesy of Instituto Cultural Cabañas, Photo by Marcos García.
David Shrigley: Lose Your Mind. The artist, 2014. © David Shrigley. Courtesy of Instituto Cultural Cabañas, Photo by Marcos García.
David Shrigley: Lose Your Mind. Beginning, Middle and End, 2009. © David Shrigley. Courtesy of Instituto Cultural Cabañas, Photo by Marcos García.
David Shrigley: Lose Your Mind. Insects, 2007. © David Shrigley. Courtesy of Instituto Cultural Cabañas, Photo by Marcos García.

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David Shrigley: Lose your Mind is a British Council touring exhibition. It runs until 28 February 2016 at Guadalajara, Mexico before going on to Santiago, Chile from 27 May to 31 July and then Seoul, South Korea from 6 October 2016 to 8 January 17.

This article was originally published on 7 January 2015.