b.1972

Dave Thompson’s creative practice is shaped by “a sense of humor, nature, science, and engineering.” This is evident in the complicated narratives Thompson weaves with strands of word play, puns, symbolism and irony. His messaging runs the gamut of personal, social and external. 

“I’ve created, at least in the time I’ve been going to Arts of Life, some shall we say interesting work to put it one way, I guess. Well, interesting in the sense of trying to be visually interesting. Interesting in the sense of when you kinda hear the thought process behind some of the pieces you think, “Ok that’s a bit deep and involved”.

Thompson maintains a sense of whimsy even when handling dark subject matter. Though his works are rendered with realism, the concepts manifest into a surreal viewpoint. 

“If you really sift through and analyze my pieces there’s at least a couple of different art movements in the relatively modern era that have inspired my work. Impressionism and realism have influenced my work to varying degrees. One might argue cubism might influence some of my work too. I think stuff in the mass media tends to influence some of my work. I’ve been drawing influences on some of my pieces about what was occurring in the news at the time as well as video games. Memories from my life for some of my pieces too, if you will.”

Equally inspired by both visual art and music, he is also an avid member of the North Shore Studio’s band Van Go Go.

Check out Dave’s 2020 Artist of the Month interview here.