Only Shallow celebrates surface. Each artist selected engages with the potential of materiality—exploring how the surface of the artwork creates both a tactile and tangible relationship with the world. Surface is the final layer of construction and, equally, the first point of contact for the viewer. Whether this top layer serves as a form of concealment or as an entry point to a more complex mechanism, each surface overlays a vast and intricate network of information. The mechanisms that underpin each artwork rely entirely on their relationship to the surface—its application, operation, and association.

TWO-PLUS-TWO is an initiative set up by TWO Acme Glassyard studio holders—painter Lee Johnson and sculptor Poppy Whatmore. Lee Scully were guest curators within the project space.