Installation view
May 10 – June 2, 2012
David Thomas’ paintings, photopaintings and painting/installations address issues of complexity, perception, being amid time and space through the use of duration and a composite formal language that employ monochromes and painted reflective surfaces. This new body of work comprises of images that are considerations or contemplations on time and transcience. Works feature photopaintings of members of independent rock and roll band ‘The Toot Toot Toots’.
David Thomas was born in Belfast, N. Ireland in 1951, and arrived in Australia in 1958. Thomas studied art and education at University of Melbourne graduating in the 1970s. He was awarded a postgraduate diploma in Visual art at Monash University in the 1980s. He holds an M.A.in Fine Arts and a Ph.D. from RMIT University where he has taught since 1992. He is an Associate Professor of Painting, and Leader of the Art, Time and Space Research Cluster in the School of Art, at RMIT University, Melbourne . Thomas has been awarded numerous grants including: Australia Council, AGNSW, Arts Victoria International Development grants. He has undertaken several residencies at the Cité International des Arts, Paris in the 1990s and recently in 2010 at The Centre for Drawing Research, Wimbledon College of Art, University of the Arts London. He exhibits widely in Australia, New Zealand, Asia
and Europe
David Thomas’ work is represented in private collections in Australia, USA, France, Germany, New Zealand, Korea, Singapore, and the UK, and in public collections including: The National Gallery of Victoria, The Australian National Gallery, Canberra. Art Bank, Sydney and Melbourne. Trinity College, The University of Melbourne, RMIT University, Museum of Modern Art at Heide, Western Mining Collection, Cripp’s Collection (Australia and UK), Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery, N.Z., Canterbury University, Christchurch, N.Z., Lim Lip Museum, Gong Ju, S. Korea, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany.