George Shaw Twatricks Limited Edition Prints

‘It broke from him like a wail of despair from a hell of sufferers and died in a wail of furious entreaty, a cry for an iniquitous abandonment, a cry which was but the echo of an obscene scrawl which he had read on the oozing wall of a urinal.’ James Joyce, Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

Turner Prize nominated artist George Shaw has always drawn from the suburbs he grew up in for inspiration for his work. These three new lithographs look to the prevalence of scrawled graffiti that surrounds us, so much so that we barely acknowledge its existence, and finds the beauty in it. As Shaw himself says:

'I’ve always loved this kind of drawing. I’m astonished by its honesty and its humour and endlessly intrigued by the kind of marks and messages people choose to leave behind to show that they were there and who they really were. The urinal, the closed door of the toilet cubicle becomes a confession of sorts. I’ve always believed that such confessions, such autobiographies, self portraits and unburdened desires should be preserved as the real history of a culture.

In a similar vein I’ve always loved the painted or drawn goalposts you find on walls and fences and gable ends. I can’t say I’m a fan of football but I’m interested in drawing and painting and particularly the drawings of those who don’t think of themselves as artists. When things have a purpose they have a beauty. These are drawings for the real world. And sometimes, it seems, what the world doesn't really want is too much of that kind of thing.

Of course they are not real goal posts they are drawings of goal posts, just as the scribbled MUFC isn't the real Man United or the daubed SLF the real SLF. And if you did score is it a real goal? And to make things more ridiculous I’ve drawn that drawing and made a print of it.

And you were wondering why they were called Twatricks?'

Choose your favourite or own all three, these are the perfect prints for someone who fondly remembers the inventive way kids can create a sports pitch no matter where their childhood was.

Twatrick 1, Twatrick 2 & Twatrick 3
2022
one-colour original lithographs, hand printed from aluminium ball grained plates on to white Somerset satin.
Paper size: 211 x 260 mm
Editions of 100