1.Contexts: Damien Meade: A History of Fear by Geraint Evans (2012)

 

1. Brief Description of the Context

Damien Meade: A History of Fear is an article written by art critic Geraint Evans, published in Turps Banana Magazine in 2012.
The text begins with a recollection of Evans’ childhood memory of a disturbing scene from the horror film Dead of Night, where a ventriloquist’s dummy is violently destroyed. This leads into a discussion of the concepts of the uncanny and bodily alienation, focusing on the British artist Damien Meade’s paintings.
Meade’s works, created using clay, tape, and wire to sculpt human-like heads and fragmented body parts, construct an unsettling aesthetic space between life and death, materiality and illusion, organic vitality and inevitable decay.

Evans draws on theoretical frameworks from Freud, Kristeva, and Bataille to deeply analyze how Meade’s works explore the fragile thresholds between existence and non-existence, and how they expose cultural mechanisms of repressing the reality of death.

 

2. Analysis of the Context

Evans points out that Meade’s paintings evoke a sense of "intellectual uncertainty," wherein viewers, while recognizing the inert materiality of the clay figures, simultaneously feel drawn to the vivid, almost lifelike presence suggested by their surfaces.
This oscillation between still life and portraiture, between organic and inorganic, generates a profound experience of the uncanny.

Works such as Piri and  Foot repeatedly present fragmented, decaying, or mutilated body parts, suggesting the vulnerability and inevitable disintegration of life.
Particularly in the depiction of bodily openings—such as eyes, lips, and anus—Meade echoes Lacan’s and Stewart’s theories of “erogenous zones” as sites where the body’s borders become destabilized, offering a direct visual metaphor for existential crisis.

Evans emphasizes that Meade does not create horror for its own sake; rather, he enacts a symbolic defense against the trauma of death and corruption.
This strategy allows the work to confront mortality while simultaneously preserving a subtle, residual humanity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Relation to My Research

Meade’s treatment of the blurred boundaries between life and death, bodily disintegration, and existential anxiety resonates profoundly with my current artistic practice.
In my work, monster figures often emerge as fragmented, deformed, and boundary-blurring entities, reflecting the struggle and fragility of individuals grappling with unstable self-perceptions, emotional turbulence, and existential uncertainty.
This approach closely parallels Meade’s evocation of fissures through dismembered limbs, decaying flesh, and obscured faces.

Moreover, Meade’s emphasis on materiality—the tactile qualities of clay and wire—inspires me to focus more on the narrative potential of “skin,” “wounds,” and “fissures” in my own paintings.
Drawing on Evans’ analysis, I have gained a clearer understanding of how localized depiction, material intensification, and visual dislocation can be employed to express internal states of anxiety, thus materializing personal emotional experiences such as vulnerability, loss of control, and solitude.

Furthermore, Evans’ point that creating terrifying imagery is a symbolic defensive strategy against trauma has deepened my understanding of my monster figures:
they are not a submission to fear, but an active emotional negotiation and a mechanism for psychic self-preservation.
This realization adds richer psychological and cultural critical dimensions to my research, aligning my exploration of monsters with broader theoretical discourses on abjection, existence, and the fragile construction of the self.