Taymour Grahne Projects is pleased to present A Hole is for Looking Through, a solo exhibition by NY-based artist Nat Meade, opening on October 29 between 5-7pm at the Artist Room space (52 Lonsdale Road) as part of a joint opening across our 3 spaces.

Nat Meade examines concepts of identity through a painted array of heroic male figures. Stoic ideals are depicted in a subversive light where scale, vulnerability and humour question traditional male archetypes and virility. Deep browns, burnt oranges and lively greens make up an earthly pallet and a utopian like setting to explore mythic and real-life concerns.

Meade’s body of work has often been characterised by singular monumental forms that take centre stage on the canvas. This series marks a departure, with figures interacting with companions for the first time. A starting point for these pairings is Meade’s own experience of multigenerational fatherhood. The paintings offer reflections on his complex relationship with his father and in turn, as a father to his own children.

A Hole is for Looking Through investigates human curiosity; the strange, the desire to learn and the quest for revelation. The works provide multiple reference points, from voyeurism - the act of watching, to more wholesome, innocent connotations. On an immediate level the ‘hole’ represents a void and the opportunity to peer into an alternate world. The title was originally inspired by the children’s book A Hole Is To Dig by Ruth Krauss which Meade reads to his children.

In Knot Hole a figure is depicted from behind as he tentatively peers through a hole in a wooden fence into an unknown landscape ahead. As viewers, we see glimpses of this sky and grass landscape – but the nature of perspective, how viewpoint changes, what is shielded by the fence – remains unknown to us and an open-ended question.

Texture plays an important role in the paintings, from swirling grains of wood to contrasting blades of sparky grass. Meade paints directly on hemp, building up layers and scraping them back down until he achieves the desired effect. The process allows Meade to experiment with forms, losing them, and then finding them again throughout layers of vibrant paint.

Brooklyn based painter and educator Nat Meade has recently had solo shows in Hesse Flatow Gallery (NYC), L21 Gallery (Mallorca), Froelick Gallery (Portland, OR), Honey Ramka (NYC) and Schneider Museum (Ashland OR). He has participated in group shows nationally and internationally at numerous venues including Pierogi Gallery (NYC), NBB Gallery (Berlin), The Hole Gallery (East Hampton, NY) and The Wunderwall (Brussels) among others. Meade has been reviewed in publications such as Art Forum, Juxtapoz, The Boston Globe, and Hyperallergic. He received his BFA from the University of Oregon and his MFA from Pratt Institute and attended the Skowhegan School for Painting & Sculpture (2009), the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program (2016), the Siena Art Institute (2018), and the James Castle House summer Residency in Boise, ID (2021).