'Grip' by David Shrigley - Radiohead & Chris Morris in a blender (Grip - David Shrigley)

Member Name: zusy

Product:	Grip - David Shrigley
Date:	29/01/01 (182 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Weird. Weird. Weird. Funny. Weird. Funny. Disturbing. Weird

Disadvantages: Disturbing!

Do not attempt to read this book on a train. This advice is heartfelt and comes from experience.

The Scene:

Woman sits on packed train.
Woman picks up 'Grip' book - a series of bizarre cartoons and illustrations by David Shrigley.
Woman giggles.
Woman laughs.
Woman dissolves into snorting, belly-aching hysterics for remainder of journey.
Passengers shifty.
Woman reminded this is a "quiet carriage".

David Shrigley is a talented nutter of the first order. I couldn't begin to think how I could describe his drawings and bizarre humour, so took a look at the amazon reviews on their site. One reviewer described his work in this way:

"Think Radiohead and Chris Morris in a blender."

Perfect! I don't think I can better that for a succint idea of what reading 'Grip' is like.... But I'll try and explain my own reaction to this book and hope it doesn't come across as gobbledygook...

The drawings are child-like, naïve, disturbing in some way. They show a darker side of life but make you laugh-out-loud. You try to make sense of the sketches, or the words beside them, but your brain hurts and you go back to laughing.


Most of the drawings are black and white, some colour done with pencils. They look like exhibits in a court case, or a sampling of drawings done by children who have witnessed great traumas and are subsequently analysed by psychiatrists...

Example:

A doodle, resembling ancient symbols, adorns a page. The messy scrawl of handwritten text beneath it reads...

"Is it too fancy?
Is it fancy enough?
I can make it less fancy.
Or I can make it more fancy.
Or I can smash it to bits with a hammer.
Or I can smash in your head with a hammer.
The choice is yours.
But if you do not make a choice, I
Will make a choice on your behalf."

This theme of multiple choic
e questionnaires recurs throughout the book - it seems to mock the pop-psychology 'tests' we see so often nowadays, or the questions child psychologists ask to see if the subject is 'normal'.

This book of seemingly random doodles and 'nonsense' text affirms my belief in the ability of comics to push at the boundaries of literature, to blur the boundaries and convey uncomfortable images whilst making us laugh.

Anyone who watched Chris Morris in his latest series, 'Jam', and goes on to purchase this book, will see how the amazon reviewer hit the nail on the head by linking the two. It's the sense of surrealism mixed with the mundane, the fact that when presented by the bizarre we either turn away or shake our heads and laugh.

Much of the subject matter could offend the easily offendable, but the way it's presented is so off-the-wall that I find it hard to believe many could remain offended.

The Radiohead link refers to the bleak, unforgiving, self-analysing yet self-mocking atmosphere of 'Grip'. You can easily imagine one of Shrigley's sketeches on a Radiohead album cover. They were made for each other.

"Would you still love me if I looked like this? (And smelt of fish)" - above doodle of octopus like creature...

"What are they burning today? Proof of your existence." - above doodle of black smoke rising...

A page full of mushroom doodles, each one with the words "Deadly Poison" beneath...

Doodles of bread and buns, around which is the text:

"The smell of freshly baked bread
masks another smell.
slightly unpleasant.
Burning flesh maybe?
It's hard to tell.
Let's ask the baker.
But where it the baker?
Has anyone seen the baker?"

Perhaps you are reading this and going "Huh?" - I fully understand. I cannot hope to convey how hilarious this is, you
'll have to get the book and see for yourself.

The same goes for anyone who tries to describe Chris Morris's humour - the description immediately destroys it - it is the delivery and the context that make it so funny/disturbing.

'Grip' is the work of a genius, a weird genius but a genius all the same. Shrigley makes it seem so easy, but if you tried to create a Shrigley-like sketch you'd inevitably get it all wrong, yet wouldn't be able to describe *why*...

Oh for goodness sake, enough of my rambling. Go and get this book. If you don't laugh out-loud I will eat my socks. Or I will eat your socks. Or I will smash your head in with a hammer....

...See it's just not the *same*...

Summary: