Tom Mead

 

Tom Mead is a multidisciplinary artist living in London. In his painting, the very concept of pictorial space is interrogated. He occasionally employs the deconstruction of the painting process itself, prompting a reframing of how the finished piece is interpreted. This interplay between two and three-dimensional elements similarly incites the viewer to actively re-evaluate their engagement with and interpretation of the artwork.

Many of Mead's works delve into the imagery and ideology associated with childhood. Toys and simplistic, self-constructed environments are juxtaposed with ambiguous narratives infused with existentialist notions and a sense of "saudade," a Portuguese term expressing a melancholic longing for the past. The resulting aesthetic evokes a twisted and melancholic form of nostalgia.

Driven by these thematic preoccupations and informed by his working-class background, Mead has pioneered a novel artistic process. He constructs miniature cardboard sets populated with printed figures and objects, deliberately blurring the lines between scale, flatness, realism, and spatial representation. This innovative approach further reinforces the artist's central ideas and challenges the viewer's conventional perception of artwork.