Before his optimistic thumbs-up sculpture is unveiled in London’s Trafalgar Square on 29 September, David Shrigley brings his monumental shopping list to New York’s Central Park this week. Memorial, a 17-foot granite slab engraved with everyday necessities such as “eggs”, “tampons” and “nutella”, has already been installed in the Doris C. Freedman Plaza at 60th Street and Fifth Avenue, where it is on view until 12 February 2017. “While Shrigley’s shopping list might appear to posture as a counter monument,” the commissioning organisation Public Art Fund says in a press statement, “through its celebration of a common activity, its anonymity, and absurdity, the sculpture becomes a memorial both to no-one and to everyone—perhaps standing as a simple but poignant ode to humanity.” And reminding busy New Yorkers that they are running low on milk.
