HESSE FLATOW is happy to announce the opening of Franklin, an exhibition of work and works on paper by Nat Meade, marking his third solo presentation with the gallery. The present is on view by way of April 18, 2026.
The emotional arc of life’s struggles and triumphs take form inside Meade’s figurative works, reflecting the artist’s on a regular basis experiences as he navigates being a father, son, accomplice, and educational. Removed from portraits of precise people, his protagonists mirror timeless archetypes. At instances, we encounter a lone traveler looking for existential validation; at different instances, we see by way of intergenerational dynamics. This allegorical distance by way of portray supplies a realm for Meade to discover private challenges by way of absurd, somber, and humorous tropes, whereas additionally furnishing an area rife with human nature that bears unequivocal resonance.
Meade’s reflections on his relationship along with his father after his current passing, and subsequent reevaluations of his personal function as a dad or mum percolate all through the works within the exhibition. Vulnerability, ache, and mortality are themes Meade doesn’t draw back from, but the introduction of youthful males on this physique of labor casts a way of hope, acceptance, reconciliation, and renewal.
Confronted with a pair of dangling legs from a cloud in Poise, we query whether or not a determine is ascending or descending from the heavens, a suggestion maybe on the interchangeability of delivery and dying, be it bodily or religious. Ghostly specters hover over sure people – a metaphor for inherited trauma and launch. In the identical means {that a} soul peels away from an expiring physique in traditional cartoons, we observe a spirit wanting again on itself with what could be happiness or remorse. The exhibition’s title Franklin is a refined nod to the 1974 horror movie Texas Chainsaw Bloodbath, recognized for its portrayal of a deranged patriarchal household. Meade embraces this inside turmoil of contending with one’s violent and antagonistic impulses as his characters are visibly sublimated or put of their place. A vulture selecting away at a corpse recollects the everlasting punishment of Prometheus by Zeus, whereas a bearded determine on his palms and knees echoes William Blake’s portrayal of Nebuchadnezzar, condemned for his lust for energy.
In distinction to the adults, Meade’s youthful figures seem extra harmonious. A younger boy charts his personal path as he steers a ship with a radiant torch, unclouded by societal and familial pressures. A way of childlike marvel and journey beholds an adolescent ankle-deep in a secluded cove, reaching in to the touch the ocean ground brilliantly coated in starfish, anemones, and mussels. In a associated work, we observe two pairs of legs belonging to father and son in the identical shallow pool, one tenderly guiding the opposite. Having up to now proven his figures wrestling with or victims of forces of nature, bodily being overtaken by turbulent wind and crashing waves, Meade’s concentrate on calmer seas alerts a turning level. He acknowledges the necessity to acknowledge one’s rocky histories as a way to heal and launch future generations from comparable burdens. Regardless of what might appear to be an insurmountable heaviness, he reminds us of the cussed resilience of human nature, making progress attainable.
