This post is not about an Andy Warhol design, but about a record cover done by the British artist David Shrigley that has a lot of Warhol going on. In 2012 the Californian label Castle Face released the tribute album The Velvet Underground & Nico, by Castle Face Records and friends. A song by song rendition of the VU’s iconic 1967 album with the evenly iconic Warhol peelable banana cover, by bands as Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall and Here Comes The Here Comes.

Front cover of the Castle Face album shows a drawing of a happily walking banana, and the name Andy Warhol written in Shrigley’s typical naive handwriting. At the back is a painted portrait of Warhol by David Shrigley.

In interviews David Shrigley doesn’t hide his admiration for Warhol. When asked what he thinks of Warhol and his philosophy, he says “Andy Warhol is one of my favourite artists alongside Marcel Duchamp. These two are the greatest conceptual artists in my opinion. They taught me that art can be made from anything and everything and nothing.”

And indeed David Shrigley has learned a lesson or two from Warhol and his contemporaries. Shrigley is mostly popular for his funny and weird drawings and screenprints. But he is also active as a sculptor, photographer, writer, dj and has released some great spoken word albums. And not unlike Keith Haring’s Pop Shop, he has his own shop in Copenhagen, Denmark: Shrig Shop.

Another Warholian lesson: never waste a good idea. The same walking banana from the Castle Face album can be seen in the drawing “We’re bananas” published in Shrigley’s hilarious book “How Are You Feeling? At The Centre Of The Inside Of The Human Brain’s Mind” (Canongate Books, 2012)

A walking – and singing – banana was on stage in “Pass The Spoon – A Sort-Of Opera About Cookery” with a libretto by David Shrigley. The nutty opera, which premièred in November 2011 in Glasgow, is about two TV Chefs and their ingredients.

Also the Warhol portrait at the back of the Castle Face album had its second life. In 2012 the Australian company Third Drawer Down, who have a longduring working relationship with Shrigley, has produced the “Andy Warhol Was Mad” silkscreen, printed on a linen tea towel (limited edition of 1000 towels).