David Shrigley|Sketch Restaurant (Counter Editions)

These four screenprints were published for Shrigley's second hang at The Gallery at Sketch, a Mayfair dining room whose walls carried his drawings from 2014 to 2022.

From black and white to colour

Shrigley first took over the room in 2014, hanging 239 black-and-white drawings on the pink interior created by the architect and designer India Mahdavi. He also designed the tableware, down to condiment pots labelled "dust", "nothing" and "dirt". In January 2018 he replaced the drawings with a new hang in colour, mostly pink, red, black and white. "With dreary news often filling our headlines, I hope that diners will enjoy my take on the banality of everyday life," he said. As the new works went up, he called Sketch "the most Instagramed restaurant in the world".

Counter Editions had already published 'Be Nice' to coincide with the new hang, and it belongs with his other releases for the publisher in the 'Counter Editions' series. The installation ended in March 2022, when Sketch redesigned the room around work by the artist Yinka Shonibare and announced that a model of Shrigley's pink interior would stay on display.

The four prints

The prints were made for Counter Editions alone. Their titles read like lines overheard across a table, from an apology and a put-down to a single word of mood. The colour counts vary as much: 'Shut Up' and 'Vibes' use four colours each and 'I'm Sorry For Being Awful' twelve, while 'Pretty Thoughts Inside Your Head' needed 38.

At auction

The highest result for a print from this series in the five years to October 2026 was £5,080 for 'Shut Up' at Phillips' online Shrigley sale in June 2023. The same print made £4,788 at Phillips London in January 2022. 'I'm Sorry For Being Awful' also reached £4,788 at Phillips London in June 2021, against £3,000 there in January 2019. 'Pretty Thoughts Inside Your Head' sold for between £2,413 and £3,276 at Phillips London in 2022 and 2023. All these figures include fees.