Following his 2014 sell out show, Tom French returns to Lawrence Alkin Gallery with his latest body of work, Transcend. Evolving from French’s Duality series, the exhibition continues to incorporate figurative elements and the artists’ signature use of illusion, while embracing abstraction more than previous works.

About the artist and this show

In the slant towards abstraction, French allows for his work to be interpreted on multiple levels. He commented: “Abstraction is less obvious, so the images are open to a wider range of meanings and interpretations. It’s intended to offer the viewer a more personal experience – different people will see different things and read the images in their own ways.”

French is fascinated with exploring the relationship between the conscious and subconscious and this is communicated through his paintings. The figurative elements of his work represent the conscious, with characters absorbed in their own actions. The abstracted portraits in which they sit representing the subconscious, the instinctual yet hidden human drives that shape and determine the blissfully unaware subjects and make up the bigger picture.

“These latest paintings are formed through a more abstract, improvised and free flowing approach. For this series I worked straight onto canvas with only a very loose idea of the outcome. This allowed the images to naturally evolve, while I intuitively worked out placement and composition as they progressed.”– Tom French 2016