Film: Ron Suffiled.(3 mins. 3secs.) Music: David Whitefield 'The Rudder and the Rock'
Like most people of my generation I had never heard of the singer David Whitfield but then I moved to Hull as a student in 1988. Whitfield was born in Hull and by chance, one afternoon, my flatmates found an article on the back page of the local newspaper about a bust that had been commissioned by the 'David Whitfield appreciation society'. The article had got our attention because it had the former head of the sculpture department (Martin Woolveston) in the photograph. He had been commissioned to make it but the article was actually about something that had happened since the commission had been completed.
The bust had been installed in the 'Harbour Masters Tavern' as the previous landlord had been a big fan. The current one, on the other hand, didn't give it the reverence the appreciation-society thought it deserved. The article went on to say.
" .......people had come from as far away as Lincoln to pay their respects only to find the bust wearing a trilby hat and scarf " and, on another occasion. ..."A plastic skull, halloween mask”.
In the days before the internet, this newspaper article was the only information I had on David Whitefield. I found David Whitfield's apparent descent into obscurity fascinating. It was not until 1995, when I finally came across a 78 rpm record of 'Rudder and the Rock' at a car boot sale in Birmingham, that I heard him sing for the first time.
The bust had been installed in the 'Harbour Masters Tavern' as the previous landlord had been a big fan. The current one, on the other hand, didn't give it the reverence the appreciation-society thought it deserved. The article went on to say.
" .......people had come from as far away as Lincoln to pay their respects only to find the bust wearing a trilby hat and scarf " and, on another occasion. ..."A plastic skull, halloween mask”.
In the days before the internet, this newspaper article was the only information I had on David Whitefield. I found David Whitfield's apparent descent into obscurity fascinating. It was not until 1995, when I finally came across a 78 rpm record of 'Rudder and the Rock' at a car boot sale in Birmingham, that I heard him sing for the first time.
Three years later, in 1998, the Ferrens Art Gallery in Hull commissioned me to make a piece for their maritime art collection. I made an artwork that incorporated a working record player ('Siren') and was looking for the right record to play on it. As well as being native to Hull, before his singing career, Whitfield had been in the Navy. It seemed highly appropriate to use his recording of "Rudder and the Rock" as the music in the art piece. Unfortunately the tempo of the song was far too fast for the mood of the piece so I went along to the 'David Whitefield museum' in an attempt to find something nautical but slower.
Whitefield with one of his impressive cars.
The tourist information centre in Hull had given me a card with a phone number and address on it. When I rang them up I was pleasantly surprised when they allowed me to visit that very evening. I became confused when the address on the card took me to a house in the middle of an estate in East Hull. A man answered the door and confirmed I had the right address and then led me through his home and out of the patio doors at the back. On the other side of the patio a separate building took up the rest of the garden. The door was duly unlocked and the lights turned on to reveal a floor to ceiling homage to David Whitfield complete with life size cardboard cut out of the man in his heyday. An eclectic mix of objects once owned by David Whitfield and photographs were arranged in chronological order clockwise around the room. They started with framed images from the beginning of his career that included one of him sitting in a brand new imported Buick motor car in the 1950's. The tableau's ended on the other side of the entrance door with an image from 1980(?) showing Whitefield sitting behind the wheel of a Datsun pulling a caravan.
David Whitefields bathroom linoleum pattern
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A lot of the objects were really quite arbitrary but having been touched or owned by the star they had been raised to the status of relic (This experience in the museum probably even influenced my later project in Antarctica).
“Floor to ceiling” in this context is not a figure of speech. There were actually posters on the ceiling and a strange section of linoleum on the floor which I hesitated to step on until the owner said. “That’s ok, you can walk on that.......but YES, it is an exhibit”. The dedication, of what looked like, one man’s fascination with this singer from the past had created something that seemed to say more about our culture and the human condition than the |
original subject it was focused on. I was grinning with excitement but as a guest in one man’s personal shrine I didn’t have the heart to say that I didn’t really like the music. The linoleum seemed a very period, 1950’s design and had been inlaid with decorative shapes cut out from another colour. These included the silhouette of a leaping dolphin. When I asked about the history behind the flooring I was told that it had come from David Whitfield’s bathroom. I grinned even more. Realising he had hit upon a subject that was obviously interesting me, the curator picked up a porcelain soap dish from amongst a collection of other exhibits. It still had a section of plaster on the back of it where it had obviously once been fixed to a wall. Apparently the new owners of David Whitfield’s old house in the suburbs of Hull had decided to refurbish the bathroom and this curator had liberated these artifacts from the skip outside.
“If you’re really interested- I’ve got a bath and a sink out the back”.
“If you’re really interested- I’ve got a bath and a sink out the back”.
Photo: Doug Atfield
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Whitefields house in 'Kirkella' near Hull. Complete with blue plaque.
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Despite the revelations of the museum, it turned out David Whitfield didn’t record any other nautical, slower songs and sadly I eventually choose a different singer for 'Siren'. I put my copy of 'Rudder and the Rock' back in my record collection and there it stayed for another three years.
In 2001, I was invited to take part in 'Reisbureau Mareado'; an art exhibition in a giant second hand warehouse. I found a row of spin dryers for sale in the shop and decided to make this art piece- 'The Plinth'- to hide amongst them. This time, in a spin dryer, the fast hectic pace of the song seemed perfectly appropriate.
The illusion of the record player being under water is actually created by using the clear plastic lid from the record player upside down with a thin layer of water on top of it. I was influenced slightly by the Bill Viola piece 'The sleepers'. I’m not a massive fan of his work it just amused me greatly to know I had achieved the same effect on a tiny budget.
In 2001, I was invited to take part in 'Reisbureau Mareado'; an art exhibition in a giant second hand warehouse. I found a row of spin dryers for sale in the shop and decided to make this art piece- 'The Plinth'- to hide amongst them. This time, in a spin dryer, the fast hectic pace of the song seemed perfectly appropriate.
The illusion of the record player being under water is actually created by using the clear plastic lid from the record player upside down with a thin layer of water on top of it. I was influenced slightly by the Bill Viola piece 'The sleepers'. I’m not a massive fan of his work it just amused me greatly to know I had achieved the same effect on a tiny budget.
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In 2014 I added this model rowing boat for a show at '& Model' gallery, Leeds. In 2018 I changed it again for a model container ship for the exhibition 'Transit Transition' 'Contains Art', Watchet.
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