Corbin Shaw Wants To Make Art For Everyone

Corbin Shaw has always been challenging the status quo. For those unfamiliar, you only need to see his irreverent renditions of St George’s Cross to understand why he is one to watch in the contemporary art scene. Hailing from an ex-mining town in Sheffield, his work explores identity, masculinity, and class while simultaneously questioning and celebrating British culture. It should come as no surprise then that his first venture as an independent artist would examine the accessibility of art to a generation feeling the economic pressures of a post-pandemic reality. ‘We can’t buy a house, can we? So why not invest in some art? Who knows, it might be worth a bit some day.’ is the sentiment Shaw poses with this latest project. Laws to Live by, Laws to Eat Off, launches on his website this Friday, introducing two limited edition works hand screen printed in the artist’s Bethnal Green studio. With it, he hopes to deconstruct the belief that hard work leads to prosperity while offering an option for anyone interested in getting on the art ladder.

Challenging widely held practices and ideologies are at the heart of the work that Shaw produces. Earlier this year, the Central Saint Martins Fine Art graduate was the second half of a joint show with legendary photographer Martin Parr at the OOF Gallery. Among Parr’s revelatory images of rowdy football fans were Shaw’s flags stamped with satirical messages like ‘football without cans is nothing', which highlight and underline the culture and community around the nation's beloved sport. Before that, he showcased his second solo exhibition titled ‘Nowt As Queer As Folk' at East London’s Guts Gallery. Based on his own experiences growing up in a South Yorkshire Village, the show explored notions of village life, conformity, and community values, he reimagined floral adorned folk tapestries with phrases like ‘sad lad in the sticks'.

His signature tongue-in-cheek wordplay continues with two new prints boldly proclaiming ‘this time next year we’ll be millionaires’ and ‘where there’s muck there’s brass’. The phrases came from coffee mugs that Shaw would see at his father’s firm growing up, while the choice of using gingham as the canvas was inspired by the fabric synonymous with tablecloths of the local cafe. ‘The work hopes to underpin phrases that are woven into the fabric of English society and especially in working-class communities.’ Shaw explains. ‘I want to break stigmas around things that we’ve been taught, and are seen as gospel. I’ve always been brought up around mantras about working hard equals a payoff, when I don't feel like that is completely true.'

Another facade that Shaw hopes to dismantle in his first project acting independently from a gallery, is the exclusivity (and secrecy) around purchasing art. Questioning the inaccessibility that the art world runs on, his goal is simple: ‘I wanted to be able to create art that’s accessible to people who’ve previously felt excluded. So much of the audience that likes my work doesn’t have the money to spend on the larger-scale things I make’. This decision to release work away from the constraints and pressures of dealers and agents was about more than reclaiming autonomy. Rather it was about living by the values he imbues in his work. ‘[my work] had prices on them that weren’t set by me, but by the gallery. I always felt uncomfortable that the majority of the people that loved my work wouldn’t afford it,’ he explains. ‘I have full autonomy over how much [my] work is priced. I feel like galleries are so often archaic in how they price artwork’.

Growing up in a post-industrial town meant the glossy prints of Parr didn't adorn Shaw's walls. He recalls his first pieces of art being the covers of CDs he purchased. ‘Some had pull-out sleeves and I would stick them up on my wall’. Now that the power is in his hands he hopes to start a greater discussion about the practices of contemporary art, while setting himself as an example that art should be available to everyone. ‘People should be able to own a piece of art no matter what background or tax bracket they’re in.'

Laws to Live by, Laws to Eat Off will be launched on corbinshaw.com Friday 8th July, featuring two prints limited to 15 each.