IN CONVERSATION WITH ARTIST TOM LEAMON

IN CONVERSATION WITH ARTIST TOM LEAMON

The ritual experiments of painting and poetry

by Ellie Howard

Tom Leamon is a Portugal-based painter, illustrator and surrealist poet, originally from South London. His solo exhibitions and creative ventures over the years have brought him a cult following, his painting of macabre figures caught up in carnivalesque scenes of humanity have become highly collectable. His artwork dances the line between life and death, bringing forth beauty from chaos, recollecting the spiritual work of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Tom divides his time between the Big Smoke of London and the Algarve. Today he is speaking to me from ‘The Beekeepers’ project, an artist community situated at the magical point where Spain and Portugal’s borders meet. “Beekeepers” is Leamon’s latest venture, having previously set up Studio 180 and the daring Gallery 223 in London. Leaving a trail of tangible successes over the years, it is clear that the artist cannot sit still; there is nothing Tom Leamon can’t do.

Tom Leamon: Quaalude, 2014 (Detail)

KOD: Can I start off by asking you, why Portugal?

TL: Over the years, I have set up art collectives and collaborated with friend Pedro Leitao. When his son was born he moved back to Portugal, and I constantly visited with my partner, artist Jennifer White. It was then we collectively decided to find a place away from London, a subtropical climate that we could start an art space.

KOD: Could you talk to me about “The Beekeepers” project? /Studio 180/ Gallery 223? Everywhere you go you seem to set-up creative hives…

TL: It was really just about establishing a creative space full of life that supports the development of artists and offers an affordable alternative to the rising rent prices of the white-walled spaces dominating the city. When I arrived in London there was very little opportunity for young artists, so Studio 180 has inadvertently become a place where we nurture young talent.

Tom Leamon: The Orange Peel, 2013 (Detail) 

KOD: What does the "Beekeepers" aim to do? Does the sunshine filter into your work?

TL: It aims to reconnect you to your roots, by focusing on how your environment shapes your artwork and you as a person. In London my studio is next to train tracks, busy roads and you can hear sirens, now when you replace that with nature and birdsong, it takes you back to the basics. When I am here, I don’t follow the news, I don’t get stuck in politics. It feels as if I am facing things, which are slightly more important, that we should all be aware of, as opposed to the crap that we deal with. The space has become a retreat from the everyday.

KOD: Poetry seems to weave itself through your painting – could you recite me a line you recently wrote?

TL: “Here were simple sides of mind combine to place pointed pin on time, to launch with pen to match the ticking tock of when, where staged and re-arranged hold hands to mirror age, and thatched futures become present pasts, where thoughts detached have no home, where brittle bodies do not break, here behind soft walls and fake heat, we mark, remark then make”.

That was a quote that that went into the last book, but this piece of text was very much within and inspiring the painting “The Ritual Experiment”.

Tom Leamon: The Ritual Experiment (Detail)

KOD: Do you think of painting as a kind of storytelling? How do you explain the connection between narrative and painting?

TL: Painting is definitely a form of storytelling, the narrative is often inspired by something that I found frustrating, for example watching the news in the morning! There was always a story within each piece of work. It is an interesting process, working the text into painting and not overloading it with all that London throws at you.

KOD: What is it about the so-called ‘Human Condition’ that you are trying to capture?

TL: My work is about confronting the fear of death, and raising the question of living, asking why we get caught up in the rhythms of a materialistic life. My painting strips back human condition to its core; it’s an attempt to refine life to its simplest form. As we move faster and evolve, what do we leave behind? My painting is the whole process of experiencing life. I hit people in the face with that childish naivety.

KOD: What is DADA to you?

TL: For me it's about being an individual with my own opinions and values. It's about not taking things for granted and confronting, which don't make sense. Pushing boundaries, speaking out loud, exploring/developing and ever evolving.

To see more of Tom Leamon's work, please click here

Leave a comment

Please note: comments must be approved before they are published.

MEET THE ARTISTS CHINA CAN'T KEEP CONTAINED

Artists Sun Yuan & Peng Yu display dead babies & live animals at Guggenheim Museum Exhibition

Peter Yeung

Read more »
Share »

JOSEPH BEUYS: I LIKE AMERICA AND AMERICA LIKES ME

What we can learn from artist about race relations and how to heal a nation    

Peter Yeung

Read more »
Share »

A SEXLESS SOCIETY IS HERE

Fashion rides the gender blending trend  

Maria Raposo

Read more »
Share »

NAN GOLDIN: THE BALLAD OF SEXUAL DEPENDENCY

The artist captures the essence of humanity and life on the edge

Ellie Howard

Read more »
Share »

THE HEDI SLIMANE EFFECT ON YVES SAINT LAURENT

How the designer remade the house of Yves Saint Laurent

Maria Raposo

Read more »
Share »

SYNCHRODOGS: “I must be dreaming”

We speak to the photography duo about synchronicity & the power of dreams

Ellie Howard

Read more »
Share »

THE COLLAGE RENAISSANCE

Contemporary collage is the new Pop Art collectors are buying into

Harriet Baker

Read more »
Share »

DAVID BOWIE PUSHED THE LIMITS OF MUSIC, ART & FASHION

Bowie was an artist and an explorer that embodied true individuality that our generation craves

Fiona Ma

Read more »
Share »

MEET THE ARTISTS CHINA CAN'T KEEP CONTAINED

Artists Sun Yuan & Peng Yu display dead babies & live animals at Guggenheim Museum Exhibition

Peter Yeung

Read more »
Share »

JOSEPH BEUYS: I LIKE AMERICA AND AMERICA LIKES ME

What we can learn from artist about race relations and how to heal a nation    

Peter Yeung

Read more »
Share »

A SEXLESS SOCIETY IS HERE

Fashion rides the gender blending trend  

Maria Raposo

Read more »
Share »

NAN GOLDIN: THE BALLAD OF SEXUAL DEPENDENCY

The artist captures the essence of humanity and life on the edge

Ellie Howard

Read more »
Share »

THE HEDI SLIMANE EFFECT ON YVES SAINT LAURENT

How the designer remade the house of Yves Saint Laurent

Maria Raposo

Read more »
Share »

SYNCHRODOGS: “I must be dreaming”

We speak to the photography duo about synchronicity & the power of dreams

Ellie Howard

Read more »
Share »

THE COLLAGE RENAISSANCE

Contemporary collage is the new Pop Art collectors are buying into

Harriet Baker

Read more »
Share »

DAVID BOWIE PUSHED THE LIMITS OF MUSIC, ART & FASHION

Bowie was an artist and an explorer that embodied true individuality that our generation craves

Fiona Ma

Read more »
Share »

FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY GETS HYPER-REAL

From Erwin Blumenfeld to Nick Knight, fashion constructs fantastical images

Greg French

Read more »
Share »

THE EVOCATIVE IMAGES OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

Eminent street photographers find beauty in the ordinary

Leah Sinclair

Read more »
Share »

THE ZINE SCENE IS BACK

Self-Publishing is Having a Moment and It’s Redefining Youth and Self Expression

Leah Sinclair

Read more »
Share »

PLASTIC PURGERY – BARBIE IN BONDAGE BREAKS THE INTERNET

Photographer Mariel Clayton Reinvents the Stereotype of the Female Form

Fiona Ma

Read more »
Share »

LOUIS VUITTON - SERIES 3 EXHIBITION

Nicolas Ghesquière: less mask, more man

Maria Raposo

Read more »
Share »

REGENERATION OR GENTRIFICATION?

The changing face of London’s artistic communities

Peter Yeung

Read more »
Share »

INSIDE THE CHELSEA HOTEL

The legendary New York hangout of rockstars and Hollywood royalty

Ellie Howard

Read more »
Share »

IN CONVERSATION WITH OLAF BREUNING

The artist talks about the endless interpretations of his work and life

Ellie Howard

Read more »
Share »

REVEALED: KURT COBAIN'S ORIGINAL ARTWORK

A dark look into the mind of Nirvana’s tortured frontman

Daryl Mersom

Read more »
Share »

ABOUT A GIRL: TEENAGERS IN POP CULTURE

Exploring media fantasies from saints to bad-ass sinners of female youth

Leah Sinclair

Read more »
Share »

ART GONE VIRAL

Performance art videos are paving the way for activism through social media

Leah Sinclair

Read more »
Share »

IN CONVERSATION WITH ARTIST TOM LEAMON

The ritual experiments of painting and poetry

Ellie Howard

Read more »
Share »

COLLAGE ARTIST HOLLY-ANNE BUCK/COLLAGISM

We talk to the artist about playing with abstraction & reconstructing reality

Ellie Howard

Read more »
Share »

FROM UNISEX TO ANTI-FASHION

Meet Rudi Gernreich, the first gender blender fashion activist

Alessandro Esculapio

Read more »
Share »

THE REVIVAL OF WARP N’ WEFT

From artisan to art; the lost craft of tapestry is making a comeback

KOD Staff

Read more »
Share »

THE ALCHEMY OF COLLAGE: ARTISTS IRINA & SILVIU SZEKELY

Art is not art if it doesn’t generate misrepresentation, confusion, anger or sarcasm

Ellie Howard

Read more »
Share »

THE CREATIVE CLASS: MAKING IT THEIR WAY

Photographer Francesca Allen captures the talented, genuine and real

Maria Raposo

Read more »
Share »

'80S ICON KEITH HARING’S POP SHOP

The Art and Commerce of Giving Back

Alessandro Esculapio

Read more »
Share »

THE DEATH OF BRONSON

The art and literature of "Charles Bronson"; Britain's most notorious prisoner

KOD Staff

Read more »
Share »

THE PSYCHEDELIC LOVE-IN OF THE FABULOUS COCKETTES

San Francisco’s original underground glitter troupe

KOD Staff

Read more »
Share »

THE MODERN DAY DANDY CULT

Old fashioned values and classic sartorial style returns to mens fashion

Ellie Howard

Read more »
Share »
Top