ADAM Bridgland is a busy man. He has dashed back from the Tate Modern where he works as an art handler to meet me at Jealous Gallery and Print Studio, in Crouch End, where he is gallery assistant, to discuss his work as an artist. Add to that schedule a 12-week-old son and you have one hectic lifestyle.

Ironically, the Royal College of Art graduate tells me, becoming a father has had a calming effect.

“Having a baby has made me a lot less stressed. Everyone was thinking my work would become more morose because I would be getting more tired, but because Oran sleeps virtually through the night, I am content.”

On first inspection, Adam’s body of work, which features embroidered patches and large screen prints with enamel, is anything but morose. It is colourful, playful and immediately engaging, evoking childhood memories of seaside holidays.

Described as “your favourite leisure time artist”, Adam, who is currently part of the group show Exhibitionism (The Art Display) at The Courtauld Institute of Art, explains: “I come from Ely [Cambridgeshire] which is basically very, very flat and when I was 18 all I wanted to do was get out. Those large expanses of space make you dream of escape. I like the glamour of travel, perhaps not now, but in the ‘70s flying and travelling by cruise liners to some far away land was something glamourous and beautiful, that produces a lot of nostalgia in my work.”

The 30-year-old artist, who lives in Finsbury Park, also explores the “dissapointment of travel”, the notion that the holiday is essentially a fantasy that rarely lives up to expectations, while the poetic text adorning the images adds another layer to the work.

Speaking about his use of text, Adam says: “I want to create artwork where people can look at it and go, ‘Yeah I get it,’ but if you look beneath the surface and read the tag lines there is something quite poetic and deeper. Read it once and it’s quite funny, read it again and there is a little bit of sadness and romanticism.”

Visit: www.adambridgland.co.uk, www.tagfinearts.com or www.jealousgallery.com