Tom Speedy graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee (2025), with First-Class Honours. He is a recipient of an RSA John Kinross Scholarship and has also been shortlisted for the New Blood Emerging Artist Prize. Two of Tom’s Degree Show paintings were exhibited at Unit London during Frieze Week 2025.
Tom presents a new painting inspired by his experience of the Palio in Siena - a medieval city shaped by ritual and tradition, where each year the streets fill with drumbeats, flags and processions, in anticipation of a 90-second bareback horse race. After a day waiting in the heat, Tom found himself within touching distance of the horses as they thundered around the Piazza del Campo, surrounded by 50,000 spectators. The intensity, chaos and echoes of the past left a lasting impression.
Tom’s practice explores open and ambiguous narratives, reflecting states of drifting, separation and displacement. These ideas manifest through the swirling, fragmented, and otherworldly qualities of the work. Tom combines landscape with figurative narratives, exploring tensions where unrelated places and incidents intertwine. Motifs are drawn from fleeting memories, often snapshots taken whilst travelling. Each canvas measures 192 cm², matching the span of Tom’s outstretched arms.
