David Shrigley to sell old rope for £1 million
British artist David Shrigley satires the art market with his new London exhibit, a lump of old rope on sale for £1 million.
The exhibition, which will open at the Stephen Friedman Gallery in London on November 14th, is the culmination of over eight months’ work.
In that time, the Turner Prize-nominated artist collected around ten tonnes, or 20 miles, of rope. The rope was sourced at different locations, such as major seaports, climbing schools, tree surgeons, offshore wind farms, scaffolders, window-cleaning firms, ports, and so on.
After collecting the material, Shrigley’s team extensively cleaned the rope at his studio. From there, the rope has been installed in four huge piles.
A pile of rope can be found in each of the Cork Street gallery’s rooms. A neon sign in the window reads “exhibition of old rope”.
Discussing the new exhibition, the artist said that the £1 million price tag is a means of “provocation”. He added that he believes asking £1 million for “a giant artwork, pound for pound or kilo for kilo, represents excellent value”.
However, he admits, “For the person who isn’t an art insider, it probably seems like a ridiculous price”.
Shrigley added, “It would surprise me if somebody bought it, but you never know. Either way, it’s important to have a price; there’s a price to every artwork.”
As well as poking fun at the art world, the installation examines the ecological reality of discarded marine rope, which is becoming a major environmental issue. Shrigley shared, “What do you do with stuff that you can’t get rid of? You make it into art.”
In 2023, the tongue-in-cheek artist pulped 6,000 copies of The Da Vinci Code, which he republished as George Orwell’s 1984.
He set a price for this work, too. 1,200 copies of Shrigley’s republished editions of 1984 went on sale; each novel was uniquely numbered and signed with a retail price of £495.
