Manchester Premiere
Manchester based emerging artist David Featherston’s Contact Boundary is visually stunning, intensely personal and disturbingly complex.
Inside a 2.5m scaffold cubed structure, the artist projects videos of himself naked and trapped in a small box onto steel encased screens of pure wax. Mirrors housed at the top and bottom of the piece give the effect of multiple images (which can leave many viewers experiencing sensations of vertigo) and an impression of shafts rising above and plunging below the piece, enabling viewers to interact with the image.
The videos show the discomfort of the confinement. “The duration of each separate confinement created genuine discomfort for me, especially in the more restricted spaces. My performance was not pre-planned, but a spontaneous response to my circumstance.”
“…I work in response to and in dialogue with materials and processes, and the work gathers its meanings incrementally in this way. The meanings are therefore multiple and open to the interpretation of the viewer. Wax for me is a metaphor for potential change - it can become fluid by the application of heat, it can also be easily broken - hence, encasing wax in steel frames implies the determining nature of cold, rational forces on the more fluid and free flowing reality of the individual, a metaphor carried further by the projection of another reality onto the screens.”
“The choice to appear naked in this piece was not an easy one for me. I am not a man who is comfortable with nudity; I find the judgement of others hurtful. My choice to appear naked, therefore, was a deliberate choice to expose my vulnerability. I believe we live in a society where cynicism is rife, where many will attack those who dare to drop their façade, who confess to being fallible. I believe that we are all vulnerable, that because of the demands of this world we hide our vulnerability, thereby building barriers around ourselves, isolating us from others. Exposing myself in this way is an act of hope, that I may receive empathy rather than judgement, and just as other artists have touched me with their work, that I may make contact, touch others in some meaningful way.” For more information about David’s work go to: www.davidfeatherston.com
The overall effect has been reported as poignant, moving and somewhat disturbing. The following testimonial was left in David’s comment book by Vic Allen, Arts Director of Dean Clough following Contact Boundary showing there.
“This has been a terrific installation… The public has been almost completely positive about the exhibit. I have seen people regularly spend half-an-hour with the piece, and some people have brought their friends back to see it. I’d also note that a key (and curious) feature of the piece is that it puts people somehow at their ease and generates conversation amongst strangers. In this respect the work is almost unique in my experience!”
And some comments from the comment book at the first showing of Contact Boundary in the graduation show A Show of Hands at Todmorden:
“Difficult to find words – astounding, breathtaking. Touches my vulnerability. Dizzying, vertiginous – brilliant work!”
Carole
“It made me feel sick. I will give it ten out of ten.” Isaac (aged 7)
“I still feel very moved by your installation – I am a bit clearer now what it is about for me: it is about the eternity of it, going on and on, never stopping caging, bounding yourself. I feel dizzy and scared. I had to hold myself onto the rail very tight.” Hélène
David Featherston first presented his work in public at the renowned Dean Clough Gallery which, amongst other firsts, premiered Gillian Wearing’s Turner Prize winner, 60 Minutes of Silence. greenroom can now boast David Featherston’s Manchester premier with this extraordinary and moving work.
The exhibition will be displayed within the workspace. Opening times are Wednesday to Friday from 12 midday until 11pm and on Saturday from 6pm until 11pm. Each video runs at a length of between 20 and 40 minutes on a constant loop.
Please note that this installation contains some strong language (a short passage of David cursing at his discomfort can be heard.)
