In this exhibition, Harper investigates both the exalting and constricting feelings associated with holding and being held. Typically understood as comforting or reassuring, Harper complicates the act of holding by underscoring the person (or thing) who is doing the holding. Being held to a standard, holding you up, barely holding on. More than an idea of security, Holder explores the moment in which the center will not hold.  Using a variety of techniques and tactics,  Harper reveals the tenderness and trauma inherent in this simple act.

David R. Harper (b. Toronto, Canada / Lives and Works in Wisconsin) received his BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax in 2006 and his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Fiber and Material Studies in 2011. He has been included in group shows in the US and Canada, most notably Oh, Canada (MASS MoCA), Builders; Canadian Biennial (National Gallery of Canada), and has participated in numerous solo exhibitions including Skin and Bone (Textile Museum of Canada), Paradise (The Butchers Daughter, Detroit), Plateau (South Bend Museum of Art) and My Own Personal Ghost (The John Michael Kohler Art Center). A solo touring exhibition of Harper’s work titled Entre Le Chien et Le Loup was organized by the University of Toronto in 2013 in partnership with Kitchener-Waterloo Gallery (Ontario), The Kenderdine (Saskatchewan), Ottawa Art Gallery and St. Mary’s University Gallery (Nova Scotia).
He has participated in several residencies including Bemis Center for Contemporary Art (2014), Kohler Arts Industry (2012/2014) and most recently the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Residency in Captiva Florida.

His work can be found in a number of notable collections including The National Gallery of Canada, the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation in Los Angeles, Scrap Metal in Toronto, The Claridge Collection in Montreal, The John Michael Kohler Art Center, and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.