My work explores the pursuit of individualism, authenticity, and meaning in relation to the absurdity and incomprehensibility of existence. Everything is ridiculous when one thinks of death (Thomas Bernhard). I create vibrant, playful, and stylish paintings. I combine numerous sources to form my collage-like subjects. Figures emerge from estimation, incongruity, and nonsense. My images delight in pattern and texture, use color to nuance darkness, and embrace varied perspectives. They are aspirational — striving for integrity, the state of being whole, undivided. This is an ongoing project for me living as a queer person: accepting and celebrating myself fully. The paintings contend with the joy and ambivalence of queer life, where authority fractures, purpose is self-determined, and inconclusiveness is inevitable. More generally, my work acknowledges our need to derive meaning from chaos, how the mind filters out randomness, and the inconsistencies of human nature. These themes motivate my image-making along with the philosophy that teeth are always in style; related, there’s something about surprise and the unexpected that’s essential to humor. I try to live out what I affirm by embracing the absurd. I don’t take myself too seriously. It’s more fun to paint carefree. La la la. I’m crafting a vibrant, colorful world. Balancing rigor and spontaneity, simplicity and precision. aka living my life.
Cameron Meade is a 2018 graduate of the MFA program in Painting at Pratt Institute and in 2013 received his B.A. in Psychology and B.S. in Physics from Stanford University. He briefly worked as a researcher in Computational Biology before redirecting his professional aspirations toward art. In 2019, Cameron was a 2019 finalist for the William & Dorothy Yeck Young Painters Competition, juried by Barry Schwabsky. Also in 2019, Cameron was featured as a Rising Artist for WNET (PBS)’s ALL ARTS. His work has been included in groups shows curated by Dexter Wimberly and Carmen Hermo. He has attended Trestle Artist Residency, Vermont Studio Center, the Millay Colony, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Monson Arts, the Studios at MASS MoCA, and the Studios of Key West. He lives and works in Brooklyn.
Cameron has spent the past 16 years working for Starting Right, Now (SRN), a nonprofit organization located in his hometown of Tampa, FL (founded by his mother, Vicki Sokolik). SRN addresses the roots of poverty for unaccompanied homeless youth - teens unhoused, not living with a parent or guardian and not eligible foster care. Cameron’s art practice is largely inspired by his work at SRN, through which he has cultivated a large unconventional family and realized the immense value in intimate connections. Cameron was contributing collaborator for Vicki's debut memoir If You See Them: Young, Unhoused, and Alone in America, published February 2024.