Description

David Sherry’s actions are performed with an ulterior motive in mind. His absurd gestures allow the artist time to play with the routines and rituals played out in everyday life. ‘Carrying a bucket of water about for a week’ and ‘Avoiding eye contact for one seven day period’, for example, are self imposed ‘instructions’ which add perspective to his otherwise normal daily life. The artist describes these acts as ‘air photography for thought’.

The ability of the artist to take this birds eye view on society, swoop down and pick bits up to chew on and regurgitate back down on the unexpected crowds, is central to Sherry’s work.
In the video, ‘Sun’s F***ed’, for example, Sherry presents a straight-faced monologue proposing the replacement of the sun with a minimalist Italian-designed lighting unit. In 2000, Sherry developed a campaign for Tom Cruise’s hair after he noticed that this famous mop had become an independent state gaining control and power of its self. In a bid to inform the public of this incredible development Sherry took to the streets with a placard and began to canvas some support for the hair.

In 2003, Sherry was short listed for the Beck's Futures prize. For this, Sherry presented ‘Stitching’, a video of the artist sewing pieces of balsa wood on to the soles of his feet. The artist gives deadpan instructions to the camera whilst sewing through his feet. After the excruciating awdeel (for the audience more than the artist, it seems), Sherry cycles off into the distance, peddling carefully with his new balsa wood soles.

David Sherry has had solo shows in 2004 at Gallery of Modern Art Glasgow and at the Collective Gallery and Tramway (Glasgow) in 2003