The Thousands

As far as names go, David Collins is pretty plain. Your dentist could be called David Collins, with a bunch of letters after his name (‘David Collins, M.D., D.D.S.’) to make you trust him more. Even though you already do, because nobody with a name that plain could possibly wreak any kind of havoc on the world, let alone your body. Perth photographer David Collins obviously didn’t get the ‘here is what the world expects from you’ memo – his work is anything but plain and does wreak havoc upon the body; in regards to not only the human form, but the collective body of contemporary photography.

White Rhino might be the exhibition we reflect back upon as the moment when Collins transitioned from emerging artist to something greater – the content displays a noticeable leap from his last exhibition, 2010’s Thoth at PCP: White Rhino’s compositions are less rambling and more focused, the colouring is richer, the sense of narrative cohesion amongst the works; greater.

Collins’ works are overwhelming, pornographic almost – you don’t know where to look, but you cant stop looking. Densely packed landscapes of bodies lie draped over each other in some nondescript Eden-like setting – indulging in the idle pastimes of days gone, they are expertly rendered Gods and Goddesses in front of Collins’ lens. Yet the figures are mere mortal, young people from Perth (look out for Collins’ co-conspirator and fellow Linton & Kay artist Abdul Abdullah), subtly suggesting that the privileged, self-centric circumstances of today’s generation are not that far removed from the naked grape eating times of worlds ago. With such a meticulous eye, David Collins would make a damn good dentist. But we’re glad he chose photography.