Currently based in South New Brighton -Christchurch, David Thomas was born in England, and began his working life training and working in a commercial / industrial photographic studio in Portsmouth on the south coast. Some years later he re-trained and moved into teaching, remaining in the classroom until moving to New Zealand in 1999. While David has always maintained an active interest in photography, he began moving from the 2D image to 3D work over the past 10 years.
David’s work has a strong graphic element reflective of his early experience behind the camera and is influenced by the Bauhaus movement, soviet realism - sculpture in particular, graphic art, architecture, graphic and industrial design. His work considers re-engineering an essentially graphic image into 3D form.
David has shared the following about his creative practice;
“With past work on the larger size, it is refreshing to be working at a much smaller scale and with a material that presents a number of opportunities for expression. I have generally used a variety of materials to realize concepts and am enjoying exploring the properties of acrylic and the flexibility that this material provides in achieving the ‘image’ I am working towards. It is interesting to explore and contrast both the transparent nature of acrylic combined with solid, bold colour and it was working with the material that gave suggestion to this current work.
Re-imaging in a transparent media provides an alternative perspective for objects that would otherwise remain of singular viewpoint. As a core element of my work is re-engineering a graphic image into 3-D form, I often draw inspiration from graphic images and for this work vintage Tiptop advertising was the starting point. The concept developed and became refined as a movement grew in New Zealand post lockdown towards reminding Kiwis of what existed in their own back yard and to go out and explore. Thus a reminder of the simple pleasure of a walk to the dairy took on a new relevance. The collection has grown in range and ‘flavours’ and continues to be developed.” – David Thomas
