Be Nice

About This Work

David Shrigley’s *Be Nice* distils his unmistakable visual language into a pointed, disarmingly direct statement. Rendered with deliberately economical line and hand-lettered text, the work harnesses the graphic clarity of a poster while retaining the intimacy and vulnerability of the artist’s touch. Shrigley’s pared-back drafting—at once naïve and incisive—creates an immediate visual impact: the viewer is drawn in by the simplicity, then held by the ambiguity between instruction, plea, and critique. In framing “niceness” as both social currency and moral demand, the piece sharpens contemporary anxieties around politeness, compliance, and public performance. Significant within Shrigley’s practice, *Be Nice* exemplifies how humour can operate as a serious aesthetic strategy—compressing ethics, absurdity, and everyday language into an image that lingers.

About the Artist

David John Shrigley (born 17 September 1968) is a British visual artist. He lived and worked in Glasgow, Scotland for 27 years before moving to Brighton, England in 2015. Shrigley first came to prominence in the 1990s for his distinct line drawings, which often deal with witty, surreal and darkly h...

Zebra One Gallery

Contemporary Art • Hampstead, London

Established 1976 • 50 years of excellence in contemporary art • Professional authentication and provenance research