Places are never neutral—they come with tensions of history and presence. These works employ negative space to hold open that place for the viewer to explore. These pieces are drawn from windows and gates which very often allow the eye to wander beyond the foot. The social implication of these openings, however, is not one of welcome but of protection or even exclusion. They mark a space as private, set apart from common use.In this sense they embody the paradox of intimacy and safety we so often find at the center of our own hurts. Reflecting that intimacy, these canvases are constructed of discarded linen bed sheets and stretcher bars built from wood taken from inside my bedroom walls during renovation. The dark negative spaces push the composition beyond the edges of the work, implying both a depth and uncertainty. My work often considers the possibilities in contradiction and precarity, and these pieces in particular use negative space to examine that fertile ambiguity.

David Vosburg is a conceptual artist living and working on Chicago's south side, exploring intersections of place, power, and meaning-making. He has exhibited work across the United States, including in Chicago, Grand Rapids, Kansas City, MO, as well as London, UK. He studied film as an undergraduate and earned an MLA from Johns Hopkins University