Ray Mead
(1921–)
(–1998)
Ray Mead
1921–1998
Ray Mead (1921–1998) was an abstract expressionist painter and founding member of Painters Eleven. His abstracted “paintscapes” are recognizable for their bold treatment of colour and their careful compositions.
Born in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, Mead’s interest in art was supported by his grandmother from a young age. She encouraged him to explore drawing, introduced him to her personal art collection, and took him on regular museum trips around London. At the age of 15, Mead enrolled at the Slade School of Art. Upon his graduation in 1939, he began training with the Royal Air Force to become a fighter pilot in World War Two. After Mead was injured in a crash-landing, he was sent to a military base in Hamilton, Ontario, where he settled permanently and became close friends with Hortense Gordon, an older painter who trained with Hans Hoffman. Mead’s travels to the United States, where he encountered the popular semi-abstract style of the time, and his friendship with Gordon were important influences on his transition to abstraction.
Mead’s first exhibition was held at the Art Gallery of Hamilton in 1948, followed by an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Toronto (now the Art Gallery of Ontario) in 1950. At this time, he also joined the Ontario Society of Artists and showed one of his works at the society’s 80th annual exhibition. He then established a close relationship with a number of artists in the group who were interested in abstraction and together they formed Painters Eleven in 1953.
Mead understood his paintings, which he often referred to as “paintscapes,” as landscapes that had been abstracted beyond recognition. While his work is characterized by a minimal and reductive approach, he was careful to ensure that the makers hand remained visible. Many of his paintings feature large flat areas of colour with accents in black, white, or other carefully selected hues. Upon close inspection, Mead’s layered painting process remains visible. His blocks of colour retain a depth and tonal variation that documents the many steps behind the work.
While Mead continued to paint and exhibit his work throughout his life, he also worked at the Maclaren Advertising Agency as an Art Director and then as the Vice President for 30 years. His work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Canada and internationally, including a mid-career retrospective at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, curated by Joan Murray in 1982. His paintings and drawings have also been collected by a number of significant Canadian institutions, including the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, among many others.