Twin Town - Chloe Cooper and Nicky Sutton

About

An exhibition of new print-based work comparing the architectural masterplans of Thamesmead with those of Poundbury. Whilst Thamesmead was designed to be a modernist utopia, Poundbury was designed according to the traditionalist principles of Prince Charles. He was super-critical of places like Thamesmead, calling post-war housing “a victory of ideology and arrogance over humanity and common sense”. As residents of Thamesmead, the artists travelled to Poundbury to check out his alternative. Once they’d recovered, they began drawing, writing and desktop publishing to produce this show about nostalgia, taste, inequity, housing and hate. It’s a coronation special!

Chloe and Nicky started working together in 2022, inspired by the sheer excitement of living near Abbey Wood station when the Elizabeth line opened. They rated every Elizabeth line station between Abbey Wood and Paddington in their first zine Tunnel Tourists. After entering Tunnel Tourists into ArtWorks Open 2022, they were awarded the exhibition prize by artist-selectors Louise Ashcroft @louiseashcroft1 and Jasleen Kaur @_jasleen.kaur. This is their first solo show. 

When they’re not making zines together Chloe marbles paper to make zines about knee pain, wearing glasses during Covid and drinking wine whilst working from home. She collaborates with composer and vibraphonist Jackie Walduck as Vibin n Marblin to make audiovisual performances. Here, Chloe’s marbling responds to Jackie’s music and vice versa, resulting in immersive video projections and mesmeric vibraphone soundscapes. Nicky puts her neurodiversity into dabbling with photography, pixel manipulation, multi-media mess-making and other, less productive studio practice. She is also an art therapist, a workshop facilitator, has fun green woodworking, and discovered that she is sometimes alright at being a small-time fundraiser.