Viewing Maya Gurung-Russell Campbell and Dwayne Coleman: Duets at Teaspoon Projects

Something a little bit different: a pop-up show by two friends who inspire each other, organised by Teaspoon Projects and curated by Gigi Surel and Mariana Lemos. Artists Maya Gurung-Russell Campbell and Dwayne Coleman share a close friendship and ongoing dialogue that informs their practices in different ways. This exhibition explores intimacy, and how that friendship, and who you’re close to, shapes who you are and what you create.

Both artists are concerned with storytelling through expressive use of their materials, though with very different outcomes. Gurung-Russell Campbell’s sculptural installations of knotted jute rope and flags, entangled with family photographs, are acts of labour and love that create a web of stories, past, present and future all strung together, complex and beautiful. Coleman, meanwhile, makes images by an equally intensive process, using materials like dye, bleach, pigment and rust, to transform fabrics into patchwork canvases, visual representations of these converging narratives.

Many great artists have formed fruitful and intense friendships throughout history and this exhibition is as much about the tension and dialogue, often private, that takes place around a practice, a reminder that artworks are never made in a vacuum.