CONTRAST AND COMPLEMENT
When a graphic designer and a marine biologist share a studio – and a life – the results are rarely predictable.
Kaipara Flats-based creative partners Mark Lewington and Tabea Salewski bring their debut joint exhibition, bi-products, to Mangawhai's MAI Gallery this June. Contemporary art meets functional ceramics as the show highlights the contrasting yet complementary styles of the duo in a fascinating intersection of urban art and natural science.
Mark, a graphic designer and contemporary artist, infuses clean graphic elements to create vibrant mixed-media works. With spray paint and stencils he breathes new life into recycled objects, exploring nostalgic references and the antics of his recurring character, Jock Turner – a playful, urban sensibility that gives his work an unmistakable energy.
Tabea brings an entirely different lens. A marine biologist, her practice centres on minimalist, functional ceramics that use form as a canvas for illustrative decoration inspired by nature. Where Mark's work is bold and graphic, Tabea's is quiet and considered – objects designed for everyday use that celebrate the quiet beauty of the natural world.
Together, the two practices make for a compelling conversation. bi-products is an exhibition about what emerges when different disciplines, different aesthetics, and different ways of seeing the world are given space to exist alongside one another – and what, unexpectedly, they share.
bi-products runs 13-25 June at MAI Gallery, Mangawhai. Opening night Friday 12 June from 6pm – all welcome.