28 October - 13 November 2005
Opening Sunday 30 October 2 -5pm
Artists talk Saturday 5 November

In paintings, prints, drawings, DVD, and photograph, David explores the myths, history, and pure joy of surfing.

As he says
"I was a surfer before I 'became' an artist, now I am an artist who surfs”.

In the photograph for 'On the Beach', the artist borrows from a Neil Young album cover from 1974, the year he started surfing.

This cover in turn, was referring to the novel of the same name, set in Melbourne, and made into a film in 1959.

The artist rejigs the tableau for his own purposes...The lone surfer at the end of the world, no more waves, surfboards obsolete, companion having already left the scene, two cans of Melbourne Bitter left on the table....

"With global warming, tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes, it’s hard to see nature as a benign force to play with, but the irony is, that some surfers would see a tsunami as an opportunity to ride (and conquer) the biggest wave!" says David.

The paintings are sensuous celebrations of paint and subject, a mix of approaches, from the gestural to finicky detail.

Also included are linocuts which plumb the cults, cliches and lingo of surfing, as well as ink drawings depicting surf heroes of the 70's.

The DVD combines super 8 footage, taken by David, with a soundtrack by esteemed musician Charlie Owen.

The artist always identified with the surfing subculture when it was a lifestyle, a head space, and not just a sport.