Shrigley was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire. He moved with his parents and sister to Oadby, Leicestershire when he was two years old. He took the Art and Design Foundation course at Leicester Polytechnic in 1987, and then studied environmental art at Glasgow School of Art from 1988 to 1991. Talking about his final degree show, Shrigley later told The Guardian’s Becky Barnicoat, “I thought my degree show was brilliant, but the people who were marking it didn’t. I got a 2:2. They didn’t appreciate my genius. I didn’t sell anything at the show – it was 1991, before the YBAs. There wasn’t a precedent for people selling work that wasn’t figurative painting”. Before becoming a full-time artist, Shrigley worked as a gallery guide at the CCA in Glasgow.