David M Thomas

Across three decades, David M Thomas (b.1967) has activated multiple modes of research, performance, making, exhibition and performance. He describes his multiform practice as 'demonstrative cultural criticism’, which is achieved by preserving the makeshift while courting the role of amateur. Thomas maintains a mood of deadpan humour that masks a strategic consideration of personal text, biography and acquired objects. Audio and photographic documentation processes have also played a central role across his career. His ongoing theoretical and practical interest demonstrates how archives function for artists (and historians) in valuing, determining and communicating the historical development, persistence and movement of philosophical and political thought.

 Thomas began his practice in Sydney in the early 1990s where he instigated the legendary CBD Gallery. Recent projects include the installation Sub Urban Mystic at Outer Space, Brisbane (2022); a three-month residency developing the project Resonant Forms, at Sculptors Queensland, Brisbane (2021); and the installation, Mater Matter for Stable, Brisbane (2020). Other solo exhibitions include Simple Math at Knulp, Sydney (2017) and Real Distraction, at Wreckers Artspace, Brisbane (2018). His work has also been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Artspace, NAS Gallery, Casula Powerhouse and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney;  Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Institute of Modern Art and Griffith University Art Gallery, Brisbane; Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne; and Canberra Contemporary Art Space.

 Under the stage name David Ethix, Thomas has collaborated with Brisbane sub-tropical goths ∑GG√EIN since 2011, which he founded with artist Archie Moore. Recent performances include the opening event for Yuriyal Eric Bridgeman + Haus Yuriyal Arebaa / Sun and Moon, Milani Gallery, Brisbane (2023); Essential Tremors Festival, Phoenix Central Park, Sydney (2022); and Making Art Work, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2020).