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The Black & White Collection #2

Released by Shrig Shop in Copenhagen in March 2023, David Shrigley's 'The Black & White Collection #2' consists of eight posters, each in an edition of 350. The posters are offset lithographs of his black-and-white drawings, each with its short hand-lettered line, from 'Untitled (Cat Watches Your Seizure)' to 'Untitled (Complexity of the Foot)'.

All The Black & White Collection #2 Works By David Shrigley (9)

Significance & Analysis

With this second black-and-white collection, Shrig Shop began issuing its limited-edition posters in larger numbers: 350 of each design, up from 250 in its first two limited-edition poster collections.

Back to black and white

The '#2' marks a return. Shrig Shop's April 2022 posters, 'Human Behaviour & Animals & Existentialism', had reproduced eight of Shrigley's black-and-white drawings, and 'Colour & Text' followed in October 2022 with eight of his paintings. This third limited-edition collection went back to drawings. By October 2023 the shop had moved on again: 'Slogans To Live By' was a set of eight black-and-white text posters issued as an open edition, with no limit on numbers.

The lines

Half of the eight lines are orders or requests, from the curt 'Untitled (Get In)' and 'Untitled (Play It Loud)' to the polite 'Untitled (Please Remove Your Brain From My Jar)', which closes with "Thank-you". 'Untitled (You Make Them Happy)' adds a second sentence: "It is a huge responsibility". The drawings were posted on Instagram one at a time between 3 January and 12 February 2023, in the weeks before the release. 'Untitled (Be Nice To The Sharks)' is the oldest of them. It first appeared in March 2022 with its promise spelled out in full: "Be nice to the sharks and they will be nice to you."

At auction

All eight posters came up together three months after the launch, in Phillips' online David Shrigley sale in June 2023. 'Untitled (Play It Loud)' made the highest price, £1,397 including fees. 'Untitled (Be Nice To The Sharks)' made £699, and the other six sold for between £254 and £445.

How Large Is the Printed Image on Each Poster in The Black & White Collection #2?

They vary within one sheet size. Every poster is printed on an upright 70 x 50 cm sheet of 200g Munken Lynx, but the drawing ranges from about 60 x 41 cm on 'Untitled (Be Nice To The Sharks)' and 'Untitled (Please Remove Your Brain From My Jar)' to 42.5 x 37.5 cm on 'Untitled (Get In)', which leaves far more blank paper around it. The posters are offset lithographs printed by Narayana Press in Denmark. All eight are unsigned and unnumbered, and they were sold unframed.

Which Posters Are in The Black & White Collection #2?

The eight are 'Untitled (Be Nice To The Sharks)', 'Untitled (Cat Watches Your Seizure)', 'Untitled (Complexity of the Foot)', 'Untitled (Get In)', 'Untitled (Hiss)', 'Untitled (Play It Loud)', 'Untitled (Please Remove Your Brain From My Jar)' and 'Untitled (You Make Them Happy)'. The Set of 8 Posters groups all eight together. Shrigley's 2022 black-and-white posters share the same sheet size and paper and are also unnumbered, so the title is the surest way to tell which collection a poster comes from.

Why Could Buyers Only Get One of Each Poster?

Shrig Shop set a limit of one poster per design, per person, so that the posters would reach more people, and warned that orders for more would be cancelled. It was tighter than the two-per-design limit on 'Colour & Text' five months earlier. The posters went on sale in the shop on Tullinsgade on 11 March 2023 and online at 15:00 CET on 12 March, with buyers told to be ready because the shop's posters tended to sell out fast.