Artist David Shrigley has spoken about the “astonishing” response to Kingsley, the angry-faced mascot he developed for Scottish football club Partick Thistle.
The mascot, unveiled a handful of days ago at the Glasgow club’s stadium, grew to become 1 of the highest-trending stories on Twitter and obtained worldwide media consideration – and a backlash from the club’s followers.
“The response to Kingsley is really surprising,” the Turner Prize-shortlisted artist and Partick Thistle supporter advised Scottish newspaper Daily Record. “Every little thing is carried out at a modest level at Partick Thistle so to be the seventh most well-known prime trending story across the planet is rather cool.”
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Sporting mascots are traditionally winsome but Shrigley’s yellow, spiky-haired creation appears aggressive and anxious.
“They wanted a bit of angst,” Shrigley informed the newspaper. “They desired some thing which stated, ‘We are Partick Thistle and we are not so cuddly any more'”.
He extra: “I hear people say Kingsley is scary but it really is only a scary picture from a three-yr-old’s see.”
Shrigley has also created a brand for Partick Thistle’s shirt sponsor Kingsley Capital
Soon after followers of the Scottish Premiership club reacted angrily to the mascot, Guardian artwork critic Jonathan Jones wrote in assistance, saying it was an sincere representation of the passion the sport evokes. “The supporters are currently being hypocritical,” Jones wrote. “This is a terrific piece of sporting artwork – a roaring manifestation of soccer’s energy.”
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Born in England in 1968 and educated at Glasgow School of Artwork, Shrigley has attained fame by means of his prolific output of crude drawings, which are accompanied by comically dry hand-written slogans.
“I am the go to guy for crudely drawn, modern day, sense of humour cartoons,” Shrigley advised the Daily Record. “It is gallows humour I guess.”
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Shrigley designed the mascot right after introducing art patron Mike Wilkins of Kingsford Capital to the soccer club, resulting in the California investment company becoming the club’s shirt sponsor.
Besides the mascot, Shrigley has also designed a emblem that features Kingsley for the sponsor, which will adorn the players’ shirts next season.
“Kingsford have previously had some quite generic logos so Mike wanted it to have an exciting character,” Shrigley stated.
Shrigley said he didn’t intend to produce controversy. “We’ve tried to come up with gimmicks before with no success so this has been astonishing,” he said.
