'Flat Life' Tom Mead Opening Reception

Flat Life displays the process Mead has developed, harkening 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.

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 naïve childhood find themselves in flux with a truer view of life through adulthood, where juxtaposing fears, dreams and responsibilities are combined with uncertain barriers. This marriage of influences creates uncanny imagery that leaves the viewer with a 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.

Mead's work has been exhibited and sold internationally. He won the London Graphic Centre Prize in 2023, and has been shortlisted for prestigious exhibitions including Cass Art, Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize and Jacksons. Mead was a finalist of SkyArts Portrait Artist of the Year 2019 and in 2024 was made a member of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters.