Born and currently based in London, Tomo Campbell’s canvases blur the lines between figurative and abstract through rhythmic movements and romantic imagination. The artist has always been fascinated with invoking vagueness in his paintings, encouraging viewers to create their own stories and discover their own meanings from his open-ended aesthetic journeys. In From Now On, which opens on 6 May and runs throughout 4 June 2022, Campbell continues his celebration of ambiguity and brings together eight new paintings that explore the cyclical nature of life.
Campbell's vivid compositions draw inspiration from a diverse array of source materials, including Victorian etchings, Ancient Greek vases, and Flemish tapestries – all hidden within layers of fluid paint pulsing with kinetic energy. Traversing realms of history and myth, his paintings offer multiple focal points that keep the eye wandering and draw the beholder closer in searching for hidden shapes and characters. The artist repeats motifs again and again to create shifting scenes, which are often continuous and overlapping with one another. He may zoom in on an image from the background of one piece and bring it to the foreground of another. Mythical heroes and creatures may flicker through the viewer’s mind as they appear and disappear from one pictorial space to the next. This sense of shifting back and forth between paintings generates a vibrating rhythm between activity and stasis, subject and form, clarity and confusion.
‘From Now On’ is a phrase that cycles through Campbell’s latest body of work. ‘From’ represents the past, ‘Now’ represents the present, and ‘On’ represents the future. Campbell often paints surrounded by his own work, elements of which make their way back into his newest paintings. The paintings themselves are propelled by their own momentum as one painting creates the starting point for the next. It is a constant cycle, summed up by the painting names and the exhibition title, and more thoughtfully, the hidden connections between the paintings, and further reveals the artist’s circular perception in a rapidly changing world. The continuous mythical motifs and complementary colour palettes Campbell utilises throughout the exhibition dramatically transform the gallery space into somewhere that feels like a recurring dream. In doing so, Campbell pushes the viewer into a dreamlike realm that mirrors and shadows our current social landscape. Like a pleasant wonderland, each painting recalls the viewer towards a joyful state lost between reality and fantasy, inciting viewers to embrace ambiguity as they seek to navigate and make sense of the world today.
Opening an exciting chapter in Campbell’s career, the exhibition at Double Q Gallery marks the artist’s debut in Asia. The exhibition is held in collaboration with Tokyo Art Office, an art consultancy firm with locations in London and Tokyo. Tomo Campbell (b. 1988) graduated from Central St Martins in 2010. Campbell’s previous solo exhibitions include If You Know How To Get Here, Come, County Gallery, USA (2021); Go on Then, Cob Gallery, UK (2020); and There, Cob Gallery, UK (2018). Campbell has been featured in numerous art fairs and group exhibitions, including EXPO Chicago, USA (2022); Untitled Art, USA (2021); Veil, Arusha Gallery, UK (2018); Dallas Art Fair, USA (2017). He was awarded the first artist in residence place at the English National Ballet, which he participated in between 2012 and 2013.
