WHAT is art? For David Shrigley, it is a creation. For Mike Wilkins, it is a pleasure that has led to an unusual investment. For Partick Thistle, it is an internet phenomenon.

Kingsley – the Shrigley-designed, Wilkins-backed new Jags mascot – has become a worldwide craze after his launch on Monday.

It is not just in Glasgow where the sun-shaped character has caught the imagination, with Thistle officials taking calls from as far afield as New Zealand and America as Kingsley has made headlines across the globe.

The story of how Wilkins invested in Thistle after falling in love with the club on the back of a conversation with Turner Prize-nominated artist Shrigley is unusual enough for a Scottish outfit.

But the whirlwind that has followed has shocked and delighted those that brought Kingsley to life and have taken him to the world.

“The reaction to Kingsley has been really surprising and it’s not something I intended,” Shrigley said.

“Everything is done at a modest level at Partick Thistle, so for us to get any degree of attention you need to make an impression. But to be the seventh most popular top trending across the world is pretty cool.

“It wasn’t the intention as I’ve done projects in the past which attempted to have a social media presence and it has never worked. We’ve tried to come up with gimmicks before without success, so this has been astonishing.

“I created about 50 different mascot images, but the one which was chosen wasn’t the cheery and typical mascot you expect to see.

“They wanted something which said ‘we are Partick Thistle and we are not so cuddly any more’. They wanted a bit of angst and a bit more scary.

“I hear people say that Kingsley is scary, but what is scary? It’s only a mascot, but maybe it’s a scary image from a three-year-old’s view.

“But we are a serious club and we are serious about staying in the Premiership, and now we have a mascot which illustrates that intention. Anyway, it’s only a mascot, so I don’t see how it can be scary.”

It is at Firhill where Kingsley will become the face of Thistle as fans get a chance to meet and greet him next season, but his journey to Glasgow – and worldwide fame – started in San Francisco.

Wilkins is a long-time admirer of Shrigley’s work, and it was a chance conversation with the former Glasgow School of Art student that set the wheels in motion.

The lifelong Jags fan has also designed the logo that will adorn Thistle’s kits next season as part of the significant link-up with Kingsford Capital.

And Shrigley is delighted he has been able to use his talents for the benefit of the club he has supported since first moving to Glasgow three decades ago.

“It is not a labour, but it is one of love,” he said. “I have been a Thistle fan for a number of years since I lived in Glasgow. On your travels, you meet various people, but I never expected to be some kind of ambassador for the club. Any supporter, if they can do something to help their club, they will.

“Thistle is very much a community club. It runs on a tight budget and the fans know that, so if there is an opportunity that comes along where you can help the club, then it is not a great labour.

“Mike and I know each other from the art world. I had an exhibition in San Francisco a few years ago and we got talking about football. That is where it all started. It was having dinner and watching football.

“I didn’t identify Mike as a man of means and give him the hard sell. We just started talking about football and it was Mike’s idea.

“I said the club that I supported was a team whose economy was modest and Mike said ‘well, maybe I could sponsor the shirt’.

“I was like ‘yeah, that would be great’ and the rest, they say, is history. It was generosity on Mike’s part.”

Shrigley can take personal and professional pride and satisfaction from the launch of Kingsley and the KCM deal that he played a significant part in.

The finance provided by Wilkins will prove crucial to Thistle in the coming years as Alan Archibald’s side prepare for their third-straight Premiership campaign.

The Kingsley tale adds another quirk to the Firhill folklore, and Shrigley said: “When I tell the story of Partick Thistle, that is the kind of story that you tell, that they are the St Pauli of Scotland if you like.

“They are interesting, culturally significant that represents everything that is good about football. When you are a supporter, being a supporter of a club is like falling in love.

“You can’t help who you fall in love with. Sometimes you end up falling in love with a nice team like Partick Thistle.”