Nat Meade: The Wait

This exhibition features depictions of nondescript men that Nat Meade portrays in his recent series of exquisitely compressed, small-scale paintings: close-up faces of middle-aged men. They are ordinary-looking guys: the Scout Master you once looked up to, the chemistry teacher who gave you a C, the radio DJ who lived in the past. They resemble Mr. Potato Head—cartoon-like, with beaked noses and black beads for eyes—but they are imbued with a poignant human presence. And Meade, born in 1975, gives them a retro 70’s touch—big squared-off tinted sunglasses, as though our hero had a streak of style and decided to be cool. Cool or uncool, nerdy or resigned, they are not as tragic as Willy Loman, but they do feel lonely and sad, hiding behind their thick, manly beards. Nobody seems to care about them anymore, not their grown kids or several ex-wives. Sometimes they are crying, their deadpan tears a testament to how forgotten they feel.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website