David Thorpe’s central themes are characterized by a striving for autonomy, intellectual concentration and independence. In his work the artist generates an imaginary cosmos, which follows its own laws and allows new thought constructions to develop through its topographies. In the media of drawing, sculpture, installation as well as poetry, Thorpe develops utopian spaces and architectural structures, in which construction and deconstruction manifest them as visions. An important step in his artistic work was the conquest and integration of actual space. While at first Thorpe created imaginary places with his silhouettes and collages, his recent room-filling installations combine different media to form new three-dimensional worlds.
Now, within this complex network of objects, pictures and architectural structures, the viewer moves into the world created by Thorpe.
Geometrical and ornamental structures are intrinsic elements of his work, formally they are juxtaposed and interpenetrative, at the same time, they transcend their mere aesthetic function. Ornament bears a special meaning for Thorpe. Used as a motif, it becomes a metaphor for a mode of expression, which derives from a natural development process and is theoretically never-ending. The artist counters the serial and repetitive character of ornamental patterns with variation, by making the prints by hand and changing details. Thorpe’s work bears relation to the Arts and Crafts movement, both in terms of style and on a symbolic level in his conscious handling of materials.