Balance The Ball On Your Nose (2022) – David Shrigley Screenprint

About the Work

Balance The Ball On Your Nose (2022) is a striking David Shrigley screenprint that immediately captures the eye through its stark minimalism and bold colour palette. The composition features a hand-drawn black creature balancing a vibrant yellow sphere on its nose against a clean, off-white background. This contrasting arrangement highlights Shrigley's signature use of flat colours to create immediate visual impact.

Channeling the artist's celebrated exploration of absurdity, the work transforms a simple animal performative act into a poignant metaphor for existential balance. By rendering the creature with an expression of mild panic, Shrigley masterfully reflects the delicate and often ridiculous balancing acts required in contemporary daily life. The hand-rendered creature, poised in a state of suspended animation, reinforces this thematic tension, turning a playful circus trope into a deeper philosophical query.

David Shrigley

Nominated for the Turner Prize in 2013, David Shrigley has secured an indelible place in contemporary British art through his wry social commentary. His celebrated public commissions, including the Fourth Plinth sculpture in Trafalgar Square and solo exhibitions at institutions like the Hayward Gallery, have cemented his global reputation. Major museum collections worldwide frequently acquire his works, acknowledging his profound influence on the graphic art tradition.

His unique methodology translates spontaneous, ink-on-paper line drawings into highly controlled print editions that retain their raw graphic immediacy. Owning a David Shrigley print offers a direct entry point into his distinctive universe, where existential dread is diffused with dry humour. This synthesis of accessible aesthetic form and conceptual depth has created an incredibly robust secondary market for his works.

Screenprint Process

Utilizing a meticulous screenprinting process, this work exemplifies the exceptional production quality that collectors expect from the artist's output. The process employs heavy ink deposits on archival Somerset paper to achieve a rich, velvety texture and deep tonal saturation that digital prints cannot replicate. The solid black ink of the creature and the intense yellow of the balanced ball are layered separately to ensure crisp, clean edges.

Hand-pulled at a prestigious print studio, the screenprint medium perfectly captures the deliberate imperfections of Shrigley's original ink drawing. This David Shrigley limited edition print was produced in close collaboration with elite printmakers, ensuring that the artist's tactile hand is felt in every impression. The publisher, Stephen Friedman Gallery, has maintained rigorous standards of production that make these editions highly prized among connoisseurs.

Collectability

Due to the high visibility of his public works and the universal appeal of his visual language, collector interest in his graphic editions remains exceptionally strong. Pieces featuring his iconic animal motifs are highly sought after by collectors globally due to their immediate recognisability and universal charm. Balance The Ball On Your Nose represents a superb example of this highly coveted aesthetic category, making it a focal point for any contemporary collection.

Representing a celebrated animal motif from his 2022 printmaking period, the piece remains a particularly desirable example of Shrigley's printmaking practice. With a relatively small edition size of just 125, this composition offers considerable scarcity compared to his larger poster editions. The combination of its vibrant primary colour palette and iconic subject matter ensures its continued appeal on the international secondary market.

Artwork Specifications

• Artist: David Shrigley (British, b. 1968)
• Title: Balance The Ball On Your Nose
• Medium: 10 colour screenprint with varnish overlay on Somerset satin tub sized 410gsm
• Dimensions: 75 x 56 cm
• Edition: Edition of 125
• Year: 2022
• Markings: Signed, numbered and dated on the back