Tom Fairlamb graduated with First Class Honours in Fine Art from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee, and is currently studying a Masters in Contemporary Art Practice at the Royal College of Art, London. Fairlamb is an award-winning artist and has exhibited numerous works across the UK.
Tom Fairlamb’s degree show focused on themes of the human condition in relation to technology. Since then, his work has shifted attention towards the philosophical ideas of post humanism. Fairlamb approaches making with a playful curiosity to serious questions about the world we live in. These questions often remain unanswered with humorous yet tragic results. The works are left open allowing for different readings depending on the context and the viewer’s own psychological, philosophical and political understandings.
Fairlamb often explores the absurdity of repetition in his work. In this piece, he has created a school of motorised minnows flipping and flopping on the floor. This work captures a distressing image of fish out of water, which can be viewed as a literal depiction or as a metaphor. The minnows are stuck in a seemingly endless struggle, desperate to escape their current situation.
