TOM POLO

Tom Polo uses painting and painted environments to explore howconversation, doubt and gesture are embodied acts of portraiture.Frequently incorporating text and figurative elements, his works drawupon acute observations, absurdist encounters, personal histories andimagined personas. An ongoing interest across his practice is theemotional and performative relationships between people within social,theatrical and psychological space.

In I still thought you were looking, Tom Polo explores the emotional and performative relationships betweenpeople within social, theatrical and psychological spaces. These’performing’ figures - manoeuvring or looking elsewhere - largely mirrorthe scale of the viewer, whilst the positioning of each paintingencourages the audience to choreograph their own immersive experiencewithin the gallery and the space of each stage. These encounters blurthe line between the act of looking and being looked at; who is ‘actor’and who is ‘audience’; the nuances of what is hidden and ultimately,what is revealed.