Tom Caley

Tom recently completed studies at the Royal College of Art. As a result, he is in the process of reforming his practice which has observation from life as its point of departure. He is an accomplished draftsman and painter, with abiding interests in colour and perceptual phenomena. Faces have become very important for many reasons. He acknowledges a difficulty in learning new faces, and wonders if this may be the source of his lifelong fascination with them. His work at RCA explored personal identity, around the themes of family archive, and the ways in which we narrate our understanding of self, including our belief in family legend and oral history, which sometimes conflict with documentary records. This work culminated in a short film of interviews interspersed with shifting backgrounds and drawings. He is currently painting faces that are generated by 'blindfold' drawings, driven by the feeling that some kind of meaningful face might emerge.