Corbin Shaw is the British artist who’s famously sick of his country’s sh*t, and his new exhibition says as much. Titled “Eurotrash,” the exhibition based in Milan, which opened to the public yesterday, is a confrontational perspective on what Shaw calls the UK’s “current state of madness.”
For those who don’t know, Shaw grew up in a former mining town in Sheffield where he cultivated his personal perspectives on British culture, eventually bringing his point of view to life through confrontational artworks that comment on politics, sexuality, gender, and society as a whole. You probably remember his link up with Women’s Aid in 2022, when he printed the words “HE’S COMING HOME” onto an England flag, in reference to the rise in domestic violence around football matches. To put it simply, Shaw isn’t afraid of his art making a statement.
For his latest exhibition, titled “Eurotrash”, Corbin Shaw commented on a new controversy: the fact that Britain is losing its identity since leaving the EU. When we asked Shaw what his inspiration for “Eurotrash” was, he explained, “I like [the title, “Eurotrash”] because it's an amalgamation of European and American wording. Britain is becoming more and more like America. British culture is emulating American culture; what happens there, happens in the UK next. I guess it stemmed from a mourning of being in the EU.”
As is often the case with Shaw’s art works, his commentary on British culture within “Eurotrash” is tinged with bitterness, made even more evident when we asked him: ‘in your opinion, what’s the best thing about being a young person in Britain today?’ The answer we got back was silence, made even more telling when we asked Shaw ‘OK, what’s the worst thing about being a young person in Britain?’ and he replied, “where to start…”
This much is evident in the content of the exhibition, which welcomes visitors into a makeshift British airport. Corbin Shaw’s “Eurotrash” airport is decorated slightly differently, though, furnished with bleach-white Union Jacks and EU flags; giant Brexit 50p coins littering the ground; and a public urinal at the centre of the space. As you move around the exhibition you’ll notice the sounds of music commissioned from James Massiah, who Shaw linked up with on the soundtrack.
Considering that Corbin Shaw’s art so often touches on issues specific to Britain, we thought it was an interesting choice to base his “Eurotrash” exhibition in Milan, so far from home. But as he explained, this exhibition is designed to be enjoyed by “anyone who is interested in the current state of madness in the UK,” and that includes Europeans too.
When we asked Shaw why he felt Milan was an appropriate stage to set his latest exhibition, he said, “I guess, I was inspired by travelling England fans to an extent; how the English are perceived abroad. How the English puff out their chest, sing their song and stick their metaphorical flag in the ground wherever they go.”
Although Shaw makes it look easy, it actually takes a lot of guts to deliver such controversial and opinionated messages in your artwork. Although, in Shaw’s opinion, political perspectives aren’t something he sees as being essential to his art; he could easily carry on working without making the commentary.
We asked Shaw whether artists have a responsibility to take a political stance, and he replied, “Yes and no. I think art can exist for many reasons; it can offer escapism and excitement but can be investigative and critical. I'd like to find a middle ground between the two worlds. I want absurd fun with an underlying seriousness. I wanna bathe in the simulation. I can partake in the circus act and criticise it.”
Whilst Corbin Shaw’s “Eurotrash” exhibition is open from today in Milan at Spazio Maiocchi, it closes on November 11th - a pretty short run. Knowing this, we asked Corbin Shaw what else he has coming up in 2025, and his answer was simple: “More Britain, more Masculinity. And more performance I think.”
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