Life Model II

Transforming Fabrica into a classroom, Life Model II plays on the age-old tradition of life drawing classes by replacing the live model with David Shrigley's caricatured sculpture of a nine-foot-tall woman. Visitors are invited to sit, observe and draw the model using materials provided, with the resulting artworks hung up as part of the exhibition.

David Shrigley says: ‘Life Model II is an artwork that begets other artwork. There’s the three-dimensional work of the life model - a sculpture of somebody trying to stand still (which is a good thing to make a sculpture of when you think about it). And there’s the two-dimensional work which is made by the visitors to the exhibition. It’s a piece about drawing, it’s a piece about everybody being included, about participating and making an exhibition yourself.’

Life Model II is a follow-up to the original Life Model, David Shrigley’s Turner Prize-nominated installation of the same name. The first iteration of Life Model featured a giant sculpture of a naked man blinking and urinating into a bucket, which visitors were invited to draw and then exhibit. Reviewing the work in the Observer, Laura Cumming said: “It admits all-comers, and makes a Turner prize exhibitor of each and every one; and in their joint works the boy comes alive.” 

Guest Director David Shrigley is best known for his illustrations that satirically comment on everyday life. His animations, which accompany the installation, are a natural extension of these, bringing to life their quick-witted narratives.