A party disguised as work or work disguised as a party
One of the reasons David M. Thomas uses his middle initial is to distinguish himself from the Melbourne artist of the same name. This is mostly unimportant; it is just a way to help reduce unnecessary confusion. However, it is also a subtle reminder that our identities, or at least the monikers we attribute to them, can be precarious and easily undermined. Perhaps not by coincidence, this David Thomas often makes art about identity and its mutability over time.
For his recent exhibition at Boxcopy, Thomas revisited his past by creating a fictionalised version of CBD Gallery, a project space Thomas ran in Sydney from 1993 to 2000. At Boxcopy, Thomas built a false floor precisely one hundred and sixty-three centimeters (the height of a prominent Brisbane curator) off the floor. It effectively splits the Brisbane artist-run initiative into two spaces. The upper and lower levels recall the gallery-basement configuration of CBD. A bit like floor seven and a half in Being John Malkovich, the low ceiling height of the lower space means that most gallery visitors have to stoop to enter the show. In homage to the good times spent in the CBD basement, this lower space is designed as a kind of chill-out creative zone. There is musical equipment, an LCD screen cycling through images and videos from Thomas’s studio archive and a functioning record player with classic and punk rock vinyl to select from. The ceiling is lined with hessian and the floor is covered with black and white sea grass matting. It is a cosy den for sitting, listening and speaking easily. With a touch of stoner monumentality, there is also a large painted panel