David Shrigley Ace playing cards
David Shrigley Ace playing cards, United Kingdom, 2014
David Shrigley is an artist and illustrator, born 1968 in Macclesfield and now living in Glasgow. His entry in Artnet describes him as “a contemporary British artist with an internationally renowned drawing practice. Shrigley’s work is humorous, interspersed with his witty observations and written commentary that satirizes everyday life and awkward interactions. He works loosely and improvisationally”. He has been nominated for the Turner Prize and his prints are available from the Tate Gallery shop.
Among his many artistic endeavours is this pack of playing cards, dated 2014, simply entitled “Ace playing cards”. It is a collaboration between the artist and Third Drawer Down. These cards are a revolt against modern deck formats with only black suits in the entire pack. Every spade, heart, diamond and club all match the colour of Shrigley's sense of humour. As labelled on the box, this set of cards is 'NOT FOR IDIOTS'. The courts are non-standard and cartoon in nature, though very colourful, while the pips are arranged in a non-standard pattern. See the box►
Above: David Shrigley’s Ace playing cards, United Kingdom, 2014.
(This review first appeared in The English Playing Card Society magazine, issue 125, June 2019, p.21).
By Peter Burnett
United Kingdom • Member since July 27, 2022
I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.
Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.
Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.
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