All Art By David Shrigley. All Photos By Gail

Do you love the art of humorist /painter David Shrigley? I sure do. Confession: I have a little crush on him. He is amazing, and I worship his art. Anton Kern Gallery is currently hosting a show of new paintings by David Shrigley, the opening reception of which Geoffrey and I excitedly I attended on Thursday, April 16th. I recommend you go see this show while you can.

First, I want to show you what the gallery looked like with people in it, so you can see how the works are hung and get an idea of why all of my photos had to be cropped at weird angles. Because I am not 15 feet tall. In case you are not familiar with why David Shrigley completely rules, here is some background on his deal, which I cut and pasted from his Wikipedia entry.

David Shrigley is best known for his mordantly humorous cartoons released in softcover books or postcard packs. He finds humor in flat depictions of the inconsequential, the unavailing, and the bizarre, although he is far fonder of violent or otherwise disquieting subject matter.

His work has two of the characteristics often encountered in Outsider Art: an odd viewpoint and, in some of his work, a deliberately limited technique. His freehand line is often weak (which jars with his frequent use of a ruler), his forms are often very crude, and annotations in his drawings are poorly executed and frequently contain crossings-out.

In authentic outsider art, the artist has no choice but to produce work in his or her own way, even if that work is unconventional in content and inept in execution. In contrast, it is likely that Shrigley has chosen his style and range of subject matter for comic effect.

In addition to the 78 drawings on display, the exhibit includes two sculptures, one of which is this Subtractor; a calculator with limited function keys.

They sell this book at the gallery. Just thinking about opening its pages makes me squeal.

David was present at the opening party and he is very easy to spot because he is about 6’5″ at least and also very, very cute. I had brought with me this cartoon of his that I love, which says “No Speed Limit Anymore Go As Fast As You Want Like in Germany” and I asked him if he would sign it, so he signed it “in German.” I love him.

New Works By David Shrigley will be on Exhibit Through May 23rd, 2015 at Anton Kern Gallery, Located at 532 West 20th Street, in the Chelsea Gallery District.