George Shaw
The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum
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| Year | 2021 |
|---|---|
| Medium | Pencil on paper |
| Dimensions | 29.7 x 21 cm |
About the work
I’m not the only one this year to have noticed the similarity between the British Prime Minister and the comedian Benny Hill’s character, Fred Tuttle. Sadly, it’s not just a similarity of appearances. The repetitive farce that passes for British politics makes satire redundant. It would be funny if people weren’t dying… the lunatics have taken over the asylum.
About the artist:
Born 1966 Coventry, George Shaw lives and works in Devon. Graduated from Royal College of Art, London (1998); and Sheffield Polytechnic (1992).
Shaw bases his detailed paintings on photographs of the proletarian suburbs, often taken by the artist himself and his family, or published in local magazines. His suburban landscapes, showing town halls, rows of garages, faded parks or playgrounds, are the result of a meticulous application of Humbrol enamel on wood, a process that results in attractive, brilliant, and highly detailed images.
Selected solo exhibitions include A Corner of a Foreign Field, Holburne Museum, Bath and Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven (2018-2019); The Lost of England, MARUANI MERCIER, Brussels (2017); My Back to Nature, National Gallery, London (2016); Neither My Arse Nor My Elbow, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2013); The Sly and Unseen Day, South London Gallery, London (2013); The Sly and Unseen Day and Payne’s Grey, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (2011); I Woz Ere, The Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry (2011); Looking for Baz, Shaz, Gaz and Daz, VOID, Derry (2010); Poets Day, Kunstverein Freiburg (2007); and Centre d ‘Art Contemporain, Geneva (2006). Selected group exhibitions include Among the Trees, Hayward Gallery, London (2020); Large Against the Sky, Small Between the Stars, The Quebec City Biennial (2019); British Arts Council Collection touring exhibition, Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art, Kita (2015); REALITY, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art, Norwich (2014); Out of Britain, National Museum of Bucharest (2013); Nothing Like Something Happens Anywhere, Chapter Gallery, Cardiff (2011); and British Art Show 7, Nottingham and touring (2010).
Awards include nomination for a South Bank Sky Arts Awards (2017), and the Turner Prize (2011). Residencies include Associate Artist at the National Gallery, London (2014-16).
