Tom Mead, (b.1997) is a figurative Artist, living in London.
Mead’s work is an ongoing exploration of existentialism and saudade through the lens of working class adulthood. Visuals and ideology from childhood find themselves juxtaposed with a truer life, where a naïvely built clay figure can live alongside the manifested dread of unaffordable housing. This marriage of influences creates uncanny imagery that leaves the viewer with a warped, melancholy sense of nostalgia; the feeling of time slipping by and control being lost, a reminder of innocence and the nauseating feeling that comes with acknowledging its loss or corruption.
The process Mead has developed harkens back to a childhood obsession with miniatures, stop motion and cardboard construction. Crude sets are created, with printed cut outs of figures and objects. These scenes are then painted to blur the distinction between scale, flatness, realism and space.
This interplay between two and three dimensional work is also seen in Mead’s larger portfolio, which similarly compels a reconsideration in how the viewer engages and interprets the artwork.
Exhibitions
Green & Stone Summer Exhibition Gallery Green & Stone 30th July - 30th August 2024
Behind The Artist Collector's Event Woodend Gallery 18th May 2024
Semi-Conscious Islington Art Factory 17 - 24th November 2023
Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize 2023 Atkinson Museum September - December 2023
DISASSOCIATE The Art Space, Cass Art Islington 9th - 19th October 2023
London Graphic Centre Art Prize LGC Covent Garden September 2023
Thames Chase Art Exhibition 1st - 10th September 2023
New English Art Club Mall Galleries 22nd June - 1st July 2023
Jackson's Painting Prize 2023 Online Exhibition
'REFLECTIONS' Blanco Gallery, Islington Art Factory 18 - 25 November 2022
Daniel Lismore Herbert Art Gallery and Musuem June - August 2022
A Material World Liliya Gallery 24 March - 19 April 19 2022
Portrait Artist of the Year Compton Verney 19 February - 5 June 2022
TAKING SHAPE Espacio Gallery July - August 2021
Art of London Augmented Gallery Trail Position 21 The Wolseley July - September 2021
SkyArts Lockdown Portraits July 2021
Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize 2021 Coventry Cathedral May - June 2021
QUOTIDIAN Blanco Gallery 5th March - 1st April 2021
ING Discerning Eye Mall Galleries (online) 2020
Clyde & Co Art Award 2019/20
Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize 2019 Piano Nobile Gallery 24th May - October
'Ideas and Imagination' Thames Chase August 2019
Degree Show Wimbledon College of Arts 14th - 22nd June
'Portrait Artist of the Year 2019 Tour' April - June 2019
Dover Street, Whitewall Nottingham, Newbury, Stratford, Chester, Lichfield.
'Portrait Artist of the Year 2019' Clarendon, Mayfair April 2019
'For Love or Money' Copeland Gallery March 2019
'Interpretations' Thames Chase August 2018
'Faces & Places' 5th Base Gallery February 2018
Thames Chase August 2016
Thames Chase September 2015
Interview, Videos and Publications
'The Portraitists' Podcast, episode 17
Studio visit with Blanco Gallery
Art of London Augmented Reality Gallery Trail
Artit Magazine issue 11, Figurative and Portraiture
Portrait Artist of the Week with Professor Green
Cass Art, the Semi Final and Final
Other
Invited to be a member of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters 7th July 2024
London Graphic Centre Prize 2024 Judge
Artists in Residence STAHS October/November 2023
Special guest and Speaker at Thames Chase Art Exhibition 2023
Bid The Gap Auction 2023
Woking Art Society 2022 Judge, exhibition held at The Lightbox
Curator for the exhibition, TAKING SHAPE at Espacio Gallery 2021
Teaching
Drawing and Painting Tutor at Hackney Fine Arts August 2023 - present
Art Tutor for The Seasons Art Class, Upminster September 2023 - present
Drawing and Painting Tutor at Sunny Art Centre June 2022 - February 2023
Private tutoring August 2022 - present
Portrait Drawing Workshop with Curtis Holder at The National Theatre April 2023
Education
UAL Wimbledon
BA Fine Art: Painting
2016 - 2019
Havering College of Further and Higher Education
Fine Art Level 3 BTEC Diploma
2015 – 2016