# David Shrigley artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/david-shrigley/
Profile generated: 2026-04-30T04:52:10.543Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1968-09-17
- Nationality: British
- Movements: Contemporary British Art, Conceptual Art
- Common media: drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, animation and film, artist books, political cartoons

## About David Shrigley

David Shrigley (born 1968, Macclesfield, England) is a British visual artist known for his distinctive line drawings, sculptures, and text-based works that combine deadpan humor with surreal, often darkly comic observations about everyday life. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art and lived in Glasgow for nearly three decades before relocating to Brighton. Shrigley rose to prominence in the 1990s through his roughly rendered ink drawings—characterized by a deliberately childlike aesthetic—that pair sparse imagery with witty, aphoristic captions. His practice extends well beyond drawing: he works across painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, animation, and artist books, and has released spoken-word recordings. Appointed OBE for services to visual art, Shrigley is represented in major international collections including Tate and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Collectors encounter his work primarily through prints, multiples, drawings, and sculptural editions.

## Common works and media

Collectors and appraisers most commonly encounter Shrigley's black-and-white line drawings on paper, color screenprints and etchings in numbered editions, small-scale sculptural editions (often in bronze or resin), artist books and monographs, and animation stills or photographic prints. His work frequently features single figures or objects paired with hand-lettered text, deadpan captions, or absurdist slogans. Political cartoons and tattoo-related works also appear in his published output.

## Market and appraisal context

David Shrigley maintains a deep and active secondary market with 1,245 auction lots recorded from June 2007 through March 2026, of which 917 carry realized prices. His auction footprint spans at least ten named houses including Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, and Bonhams alongside specialist contemporary-art sellers such as Tate Ward Auctions, Forum Auctions, Chiswick Auctions, and Sworders. Liquidity is strong: 136 priced lots appeared in the most recent 12 months (down from 166 the prior year), indicating a modest softening in volume but continued institutional and collector demand. Price dispersion is wide—realized prices range from approximately £20 for small editions and prints to £300,000 at the top end, with a median of £1,200 and an interquartile range of £450–£2,375. This spread reflects the breadth of Shrigley's output: modestly priced editioned screenprints and multiples anchor the lower end, while unique drawings, early works, and sculptural editions drive the upper tier. The UK market dominates, with GBP-denominated results from Tate Ward, Forum, and Chiswick, but USD results from John Moran Auctioneers and Rago Arts and Auction Center confirm transatlantic demand. Recent comparable lots from late 2025 and early 2026 show works on paper and screenprints routinely realizing £800–£2,400 in the UK and $2,970–$4,445 in the US.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

David Shrigley maintains a deep and active secondary market with 1,245 auction lots recorded from June 2007 through March 2026, of which 917 carry realized prices. His auction footprint spans at least ten named houses including Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, and Bonhams alongside specialist contemporary-art sellers such as Tate Ward Auctions, Forum Auctions, Chiswick Auctions, and Sworders. Liquidity is strong: 136 priced lots appeared in the most recent 12 months (down from 166 the prior year), indicating a modest softening in volume but continued institutional and collector demand. Price dispersion is wide—realized prices range from approximately £20 for small editions and prints to £300,000 at the top end, with a median of £1,200 and an interquartile range of £450–£2,375. This spread reflects the breadth of Shrigley's output: modestly priced editioned screenprints and multiples anchor the lower end, while unique drawings, early works, and sculptural editions drive the upper tier. The UK market dominates, with GBP-denominated results from Tate Ward, Forum, and Chiswick, but USD results from John Moran Auctioneers and Rago Arts and Auction Center confirm transatlantic demand. Recent comparable lots from late 2025 and early 2026 show works on paper and screenprints routinely realizing £800–£2,400 in the UK and $2,970–$4,445 in the US.

### Appraisal notes

Appraisily would use these auction records as a comparable-sales baseline, cross-referencing the artist's 917 priced lots against the specific work being appraised. For an accurate valuation, the appraiser would need to match on medium (unique drawing vs. editioned screenprint vs. sculptural multiple), dimensions, edition number and size, date of execution, signature and numbering, condition report, and provenance chain. Shrigley's wide price range means that superficial similarity is insufficient; a numbered screenprint from an edition of 125 and a unique ink drawing of comparable size and date can differ by an order of magnitude in realized price. Edition details—edition size, impression number, publisher, and certificate of authenticity—are especially critical given the artist's extensive print output. Provenance from a named gallery or direct studio origin adds measurable value. Condition is particularly important for works on paper and unframed prints, where handling marks, fading, or foxing can materially affect price. The appraiser should also note whether a work is recorded in the artist's catalogue raisonné or published in a recognised monograph, as this documentation status affects market confidence.

### Valuation factors

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### Collector notes

- Shrigley's market is liquid and accessible: with over 900 priced auction results, comparable-sale data is readily available for most work types.
- Entry-level collecting is feasible—recent auction results show small editioned prints and multiples realizing £100–£450, making Shrigley one of the more accessible contemporary British artists at auction.
- Unique drawings and early works represent the value upside; collectors seeking appreciation potential should prioritize originality, small editions, and strong provenance over volume.
- The slight decline in annual lot volume (166 to 136 year-over-year) may reflect market saturation from extensive print output rather than waning demand; monitor whether median prices hold steady in subsequent quarters.
- Be cautious with attribution: Shrigley's deliberately crude style has been widely imitated and adapted in commercial design. Ensure any work comes with reliable provenance or authentication.
- Currency matters for comparison: the majority of results are GBP-denominated (UK houses), so USD-based collectors should account for exchange-rate movements when comparing US and UK auction results.

### Market caveats

- The £300,000 maximum recorded price likely represents an outlier (possibly a major unique sculpture or early-career drawing) and should not be treated as representative of the broader market.
- Category labels in the auction-record dataset are sparse (null for most recent lots); the commonAuctionCategories listed here are inferred from medium descriptions in lot titles and the artist's known practice rather than structured auction-house categories.
- Some recent lots (e.g., Setdart, Forum Auctions entries) have null realized prices, indicating either unsold lots or pre-sale estimates not yet updated; these are excluded from price-distribution calculations but their absence may skew the lower end of the range.
- The auction-record data is derived from public auction feeds aggregated by Appraisily and may not capture private sales, gallery primary-market pricing, or results from auction houses not indexed in the feed.
- Shrigley's extensive collaboration and commission output (e.g., editions for charity, merchandise, public installations) may appear at auction but can be difficult to distinguish from studio-editioned fine-art works without careful cataloguing.

### Market evidence sources

- undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/david-shrigley/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-david-shrigley-british-1968-i-will-not-allow-the-dark-skies-to-affect-me-2025-136a-c-cf239975de
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-david-shrigley-british-1968-untitled-i-hate-human-beings-2022-136-c-750503365f
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-david-shrigley-british-1968-untitled-fast-train-to-shitsville-2021-41-c-857861450c
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-david-shrigley-british-1968-i-am-very-beautiful-2025-40-c-e21d4122aa
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-david-shrigley-british-1968-i-love-2019-277-c-ce3103e2de
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-david-shrigley-british-1968-i-think-about-football-all-the-time-2024-42-c-07962867d6
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-david-shrigley-british-1968-i-am-very-beautiful-2025-41-c-ed43379ee1
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-david-shrigley-british-1968-vibes-2018-39-c-5b6d8e5fdd
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-david-shrigley-british-1968-small-print-2022-38-c-355f231029
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-david-shrigley-british-1968-animals-existentialism-2022-36-c-e265ab88b2

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from museum, library authority, and biographical sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For David Shrigley, identity data is grounded in the Library of Congress Name Authority File, VIAF, RKD, Tate, and MoMA records.

## Sources

- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2001052261
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/66701718/
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/19862
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/david-shrigley-obe-10208
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/239340
- David Shrigley: http://www.davidshrigley.com
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Shrigley
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q278183