David J Thomas
Lecturer
Contact
Bio
David Joel Thomas: Lecturer, Contemporary Practices; Instructor, Continuing Studies. BA Philosophy, 1995, DePaul University; MA Philosophy, 1998, DePaul University; MFA Interior Architecture, 2017, SAIC. Exhibitions: SciArt Center, New York Hall of Science; Drama Science Lab; Beverly Art Center; Fulton Street Collective; Morpho Gallery; Bridgeport Art Center; Hokin Gallery; Averill and Bernard Leviton Gallery; Connect Gallery. Residency: Mosnart Visiting Artist Project. Awards: Chicago Alliance of Visual Artists; Schiff Foundation Fellowship Award for Critical Writing in Architecture (Special Mention); Edes Fellowship for Emerging Artists (Nominee). Studio practice: digital art; critical and creative writing; object and architectural design.
Personal Statement
My interest and training in philosophy, art, and design reflects my commitment to bridging the gap between critical research and creative synthesis. My international experience – Lahore, Pakistan (1966-68), Ankara, Turkey (1968-72), and Kabul, Afghanistan (1972-77) – and my Middle Eastern heritage draw me to the crossroads of politics, art, and archaeology, to post-war reconstruction, autonomous modernization, global aesthetics, and the multiplicity and diversity of cultures. I have an active, multi-disciplinary practice in which I work as a visual artist with special focus on digital media, a critical and creative writer, and a designer at the object and architectural scales. I situate my studio practice on the edge of image and object making conventions. Through it, I interrogate dominant design sensibilities and the purchase they command on what counts as form. My work explores other commencements in the critical absence of alternative sensibilities and novel artistic commitments. It plots new perceptual possibilities, probable geometries, unforeseen practical realities, unimagined subjectivities, and dense material auras in which to become caught and reflectively absorbed.