Exhibition · Double Q Gallery · Hong Kong
Tomo Campbell: Search Party VIEW WORKS In Tomo Campbell’s paintings, motifs repeat and become lost in a sea of surrounding abstract marks. Hierarchies between layers are flattened. The viewer is sent on an endless search for meaning and connection. The British artist has long been inspired by tapestries, and in recent years, the display of his paintings has taken on the immersive nature of this sprawling, traditional art form. In ‘Search Party’ at Double Q, Campbell anchors the space around a single, continuous L-shaped centrepiece that invites the viewer to journey into the work. Here, a long line of canvases surrounds the viewer with trees, unicorns, and sculptural figures. This form of display also evokes the traditional frieze format, which is rooted in classical architecture and presents a continuous narrative. Over the centuries, the frieze has evolved to a looser compositional form, which bends our understanding of how space and time exists within the canvas by turning the wall into an unbroken visual field. As such, we become consumed by Campbell’s work, becoming another person on the hunt rather than simply an observer. The continuity of the paintings in the installation invites the viewer to explore threads between each canvas, no longer individual pieces but one connected whole. Campbell’s fascination with textile mediums such as tapestry and patchwork imbues his paintings with a unique quality. His inspirations are craft-based, methodical, and often communal in their creation. In Campbell’s paintings, abstract marks are given the same weight as his figures, while he leaves room for the viewer to project their own knowledge and experience onto the imagery that surrounds them. He is particularly drawn to late medieval references. ‘The Devonshire Hunting Tapestries’ at Victoria and Albert Museum and ‘The Unicorn Tapestries’ at The Met Cloisters are ongoing influences, both made in the 15th century. Like Campbell’s paintings, this period of tapestries…