DAVID SHRIGLEY — Man in a Room, Blue Q, 2007

David Shrigley, Man in a Room. Blue Q, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 2007. Miniature softcover artist book; 44 pages, 7.5 × 5.5 cm; black-and-white printing with green card wrappers.

Across 44 pages, a man lies on a bed while Shrigley builds a loose narrative through repeated drawings, captions and small shifts in the scene. One spread offers casting ideas for an imaginary production, assigning voices to the man, a woman, a rat and God. The book moves easily between cartoon, storyboard, script and artist publication.

Its scale is an important part of the object. At just 7.5 × 5.5 cm, Man in a Room feels closer to a pocket novelty or small piece of merchandise than a conventional artist book. That modest format suits Shrigley’s broader use of inexpensive printed matter as a way of circulating drawings, jokes and narrative fragments outside the gallery.

The repetition also gives the book a simple conceptual structure. The image remains almost fixed while the surrounding language changes its meaning. A basic drawing becomes character, scene, instruction and narrative through sequence rather than through visual development.

For The New Rare, the interest lies in that combination of scale, circulation and form: a complete Shrigley work compressed into an easily overlooked mass-produced object.

Condition: Very good. Light handling and minor age wear to wrappers and page edges. Complete.

Securely packed; tracked UK and international shipping available.