WHITE RHINO

The Industrial Hedonist

David C Collins is a Curtin graduate with a keen eye for the aesthetic of indulgence. His photo exhibition White Rhino is an immersive visual feast that will titillate the senses. It is running ‘til this Friday, November 25, at Back Space Gallery at Linton And Kay, 123 Hay Street, Subiaco.

It is hard for a young man not to be filled with envy when gazing at David Collins’ White Rhino photos. In one, a beautiful girl is naked with a snake draped elegantly over her shoulders. How do you make this your line of work? “It’s just a matter of asking and doing. Be relentless,” says Collins over the phone, “everyone wonders

The photos in David’s exhibition drag you into a hedonistic world of opium den chic. They are absorbing and play on all the senses. They are the visual realisation of Collins’ ideas of the ‘Responsible Hedonist’. “I’m trying to explore the notion that hedonism is a base human desire, it’s a necessity, something that we’ve pursued through history. But for the first time we’ve tried to balance it out. The ’80s saw the greed is good mentality, but now we have global warming and economic instability, everyone needs a career to support themselves. But there is still the desire for that release. So on the weekend we try to replicate this hedonistic experience so we can make ourselves believe that we are getting that outlet. But on Monday you still go to work and recycle cardboard.”

The images brim with a mix of Renaissance colour, Baroque lavishness and French Bohemianism. David may be examining a latent sexual nostalgia, but says modern hedonism has improved on the old ideas: “It’s an improvement in the sense that it’s more sustainable. You don’t drive yourself into the ground so quickly…the reason I try to work in that Bohemian iconography into the images is because we are still nostalgic for it, even though we have remodelled the way that we view it, we still associate hedonism with that imagery.”

The naked beauties spread across velvet blankets, feeding each other grapes stir up atavistic imaginings of neo-classic sensuality. “It’s a reference to Baroque and stuff like that,” Collins explains. “I want it to be over the top. Decorative to the point where it’s almost a virus or infection, to the point where it is self perpetual, it overflows. There is more coming out of more. It’s an explosion, I guess. The shot expands out of the frame and beyond the images.

Perth is not the most romantic city, nor is it one that brings to mind the sumptuous indulgences of a 19th Century Parisian poet. Collins marvels at the range of reactions his work has attracted. “I’m surprised how strongly some people have reacted. There is definitely a niche for the work. It references a lifestyle in Perth. We have the affluence of the mining boom, and these new rich are mainly young. They come here and spend a lot of money on having a good time. Unfortunately they are not the kind of people who are going to get the work,” he sighs, “they usually don’t understand it, unless it is a literal depiction.”

Collins says he did not mean to confront his audience with the images or the nudity. The nudity, he says, is “part of the aesthetic.” White Rhino is meant to engage you with its narrative. Look beyond the breasts and behinds.

The young artist is successfully carving his name into the cemented Perth arts scene. It is a tough one to break into and an even harder one to stand out in. “It’s a cowboy town,” he says, “you just have to be relentless.”

When asked if he would call himself a modern hedonist, David is modest. “I don’t want to sound wanky,” he laughs. “I think I’m a responsible hedonist. If I was just a hedonist I’d be doing this stuff without the camera!,” Thus, David is an industrial hedonist.

Make sure you make it down to Back Space Gallery before White Rhino ends this Friday.

_PATRICK MARLBOROUGH