A performance artist whose works include sewing pieces of wood to the soles of his feet has been shortlisted for the UK's most lucrative art prize.

David Sherry's bizarre offerings have placed him in the running for the Beck's Futures award, which has �65,000 in total prize money.

In his video, entitled Stitching, blood pours from his feet as he apparently sews two half-inch thick pieces of wood to each sole.

Sitting in an armchair in his front room, he gives the audience step-by-step tips on how to do it, including applying antiseptic liquid.

Toby Paterson won last year's �24,000 first prize

According to the 28-year-old Glasgow School of Art graduate, the piece is "an experiment to emulate some ancient rites of passage ritual".

His other works include "David Sherry carries a bucket of water around for a week" and "Avoiding eye contact for one seven-day period".

Sherry's latest piece is called Serial Psycho Interviewee which involves him attending job interviews pretending to be a genuine applicant - all in the name of art.

Sherry, originally from Northern Ireland, says his work has "content, intelligence, humour and presence".

Rival

He says: "By applying mild altercations to my own life I am able to expose settled patterns of communication and the systematic processes of day-to-day life."

Shortlisted artists

Bernd Behr Nick Crowe Alan Currall Inventory (Artists' group) Rosalind Nashashibi David Sherry Lucy Skaer Francis Upritchard Carey Young

Sherry is one of nine entrants for the Beck's Futures award, a rival to the Turner Prize.

The award is worth �65,000, with �40,000 shared between the shortlisted artists and a further �20,000 given to the overall winner.

Now in its fourth year, it was set up to showcase the work of up-and-coming artists.

Lucy Skaer's work, Public Project, involved leaving a diamond and a live scorpion side by side on an Amsterdam pavement.

Sherry walked around for a week with this bucket

Other bizarre entries include a film of debris falling down the side of a block of flats, a vibrating mummy and footage of a Salvation Army jumble sale.

Their work will be exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in central London from April next year and the winner will be announced at the end of that month.

The exhibition will then move on to Glasgow and Southampton.

Last year's prize was won by Toby Paterson who created a dramatic 69 foot-long wall painting entitled We Fall Into Patterns Quickly.