Ants Have Sex In Your Beer

by David Shrigley

This all-new collection of David Shrigley's addictively strange and entertaining work reveals fresh, unsettling truths and anxious amusements in a format that welcomes the uninitiated and rewards the faithful.

Genres: Art, Poetry, Fiction, Comics, Comedy, Humor

Paperback

First published August 29, 2007

About the author

David Shrigley is a Glasgow-based artist. He attended City of Leicester Polytechnic's Art and Design course in 1987-1988, and subsequently studied Environmental Art at the Glasgow School of Art from 1988-1991. Shrigley is a lifelong supporter of Nottingham Forest FC.

Although he works in various media, he is best known for his mordantly humorous cartoons released in softcover books or postcard packs.

Like the poet Ivor Cutler, Shrigley finds humour in flat depictions of the inconsequential, the unavailing and the bizarre - although he is far fonder of violent or otherwise disquieting subject matter. Shrigley's work has two of the characteristics often encountered in outsider art - an odd viewpoint, and (in some of his work) a deliberately limited technique. His freehand line is often weak, which jars with his frequent use of a ruler; his forms are often very crude; and annotations in his drawings are poorly executed and frequently contain crossings-out (In authentic outsider art, the artist has no choice but to produce work in his or her own way, even if that work is unconventional in content and inept in execution. In contrast, it is likely that Shrigley has chosen his style and range of subject matter for comic effect).

As well as authoring several books, he directed the video for Blur's 'Good Song' and also for Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's 'Agnes Queen of Sorrow'. From 2005 he has contributed a cartoon for The Guardian's Weekend magazine every Saturday. He is represented in Paris by the by Yvon Lambert Gallery, and in 2005 designed a London Underground leaflet cover.

David Shrigley co-directed an animate!-commissioned film with award-winning director Chris Shepherd called Who I Am And What I Want, based on Shrigley's book of the same title. Kevin Eldon voiced its main character, Pete. He also produced a series of drawings and t-shirt designs for the 2006 Triptych festival, a Scottish music festival lasting for three to four days in three cities. He has also designed twelve different covers for Deerhoof's 2007 record, Friend Opportunity.

The name of Jason Mraz's third studio album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. is a reference to a piece of art by Shrigley which caught Mraz's attention while he was travelling through Scotland

Reviews

[Netanella · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like ants.
I like sex.
I like beer.

Not necessarily in that order.

I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like it, sam .... no wait, wrong book.

I didn't get this. Maybe I'm just not an absurdist poetry and illustrations kind of reader.

Next!

[Jordyn Damato · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was fun

[Coco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, so this is a pretty innapropriate title, but it was a pretty good book. This was a poetry book. It does not seem that the content was incredibly complex but it was a book. My sister gave it to me for christmas saying that it was the first book she read that made her realize that the basic things we naturally think about are so interesting. And I see what she means. This entire book is filled with random thoughts but they are things people always think about. I am left from this book completely confused about the author and whether the blurb about him is a joke or not, but i feel the need to write down or draw out every abstract thought i have.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

VERY GOOD. I RECOMMEND IT TO ALL TEENAGERS WHO UNDERSTAND WEIRDNESS.

[amusedmuse · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was so fun but now I have to be extra careful w my beers.

[Diet Coca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listen, is it even a Shrigley er, book if it’s not questionable, absurd, and eventually, gradually, empathetic? I struggle to describe collections by David Shrigley as “books” because people often think of books as having discernible chronology and plot but books also have a habit of disturbing their readers—the good ones at least—and this one certainly does. While it’s not your regular coffee table book, it’s certainly the finest beer coaster a man could have.

[W.B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great. So cynical and hopeful about life at the same time. Some of the word drawings really are poetry. Feels like it should have come out in the sixties or seventies of the last century but only because that was a great time for marriages of images and text in books.

[Digi M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book full of absurdist ideas, scribbles, funny gags and scribbled drawings. A few had me laugh a lot, a few did not.

This book won't be for everyone. If you are considering whether to buy it or not, just buy it.

[JARROD WARD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Art turned upside down and culture turned inside out. A+ bravo.

[EIJANDOLUM]

“Calm down. You are a danger to the other dangers.”

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my kind of book, stupid, deep, funny, weird, artistic, creative and stupid again c:

[Maribeaux · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not sure what his parents did wrong, but I'm convinced that if people think this dude is funny, then I could sell my shit to his audience for a living.

[Bria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Calm down. You are a danger to the other dancers.

[Jessica Alves · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was so good, I keep thinking about it

[benedetta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Compulsive eating



I ate the pizza
Because it was there

I ate the biscuits
Because they were there

I attempted to eat
The carpet
Because I was curious

It had been there
For some time

[Leire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too strange and unsettling at times for my taste.

[Aarav · Rating 3 out of 5]

thank god i don't drink beer

[Lara Flynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[emma rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

to start with / i thought i was unlucky / but then i realized / i was actually very lucky

kinda awesome

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark, hilarious, and disturbing. Is it a joke or is it art? It is certainly worth reading, which can be done in one sitting. Try and find a used copy as I regret buying a book I won't reference again.

[Old_airman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is only 10 pages long. Mostly poems with some "interesting" drawings. Will reread it before it goes back to the library. Not sure how much of it I get. The parts that I did GET were pretty good.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strangely fascinating and bizarrely charming. Almost poetic.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is wonderfully absurd hilariousness, distilled and pure.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

very funny and clever.

[Cassie Poole · Rating 5 out of 5]

so hipster... read it to be cool.

[Raph · Rating 3 out of 5]

a bunch of scribbles, some funny, some weird, which may or may not make you go off on some mental tangent.