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.
A gemini balancing various pursuits, 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.
I paint imagined subjects — loose compositions of diverse and refashioned elements from editorial photographs. The figures emerge from estimation, incongruity, and playful nonsense. My work embraces both representation and abstraction. Sometimes I’m thinking of a specific person, a starting point from which I invent and improvise. Sometimes I’m simply excited to paint the pinks and purples I see as the transition of light across a face.
l’ve always been inspired by the artistry in fashion editorials. I’m a gay who came of age watching fashionTV, studying style.com, and who — to this day — collages torn-out pages from print magazines into my journals. It was never about merchandise (ew); I was in it for the creativity, the intrigue and fantasy evoked through just an image.
I paint quick and instinctive — bright, nimble, and unburdened by overthinking. I delight in pattern and texture, use color to nuance darkness, and subvert perspective. My work acknowledges our need to derive meaning from chaos, the ways in which 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. Ribbed socks, denim seams, a checkered shirt, tiled floor, and whatnot — I don’t take these configurations too seriously. It’s more fun to paint carefree. La la la
I try to live out what I affirm by embracing the absurd. I’m crafting a vibrant, colorful world. Balancing rigor and spontaneity, simplicity and precision. aka living my life.