Expanded Eye

Expanded Eye is a Lisbon-based multidisciplinary artist duo formed by British couple Jade Tomlinson and Kevin James in London in 2010. Both hold a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design and Illustration from Norwich School of Art & Design (2007), which developed their sensitivity to detail, colour, and composition alongside a strong narrative approach to image-making. Through a natural synergy of dialogue, energy, and shared intuition, the duo began a collaborative journey grounded in authenticity and a desire to explore the multifaceted complexities of existence and freedom from the known. Their practice has evolved fluidly across disciplines, including street art, site-specific installation, reclaimed wooden assemblage, and tattooing, using the body as a living canvas.

Collaboration remains central to their practice, allowing their unmistakable iconography to evolve into a poetic visual language unified by organic materials. Reclaimed wood, antique assemblage, clay, and the human body each offer unique constraints and possibilities that inform and expand their creative direction. In 2018, Tomlinson and James were invited to the Pittsburgh Glass Centre in the USA as resident and exhibiting artists, where they explored stained glass and expanded their material repertoire. Their mastery of varied techniques and materials enables the creation of intricate compositions that inhabit the liminal space between two- and three-dimensionality, past and future, attracting international commissions, site-specific installations, and collaborations with global brands such as Hermès, alongside features in international art and design publications.

Following a three-month residency in 2019, the duo relocated from London to Lisbon, where the city’s light, colour palette, and azulejo heritage profoundly influenced their practice. This inspiration led to the development of ceramic works incorporating tessellated forms and tile traditions, reinterpreted through a contemporary lens.

At the core of their practice is an ongoing enquiry into the depths and layers of existence in all its forms, exploring themes of connection, transformation, consciousness, and memory. They are drawn to the physicality of materials that enable new directions, with clay representing a natural progression in their journey. Its grounding, timeless, and tactile nature encourages stillness in a world of noise and offers a quiet resistance to the accelerated pace of digital culture. The raw material feels imbued with ancient energy and memory, as though the gentle fragility, wisdom, and transformative power of the earth flows through it — something they seek to honour within each work.

Through contrasting textures of different clay bodies, rich glazes, and elemental mark-making, Expanded Eye constructs interlocking, puzzle-like forms that reflect the ever-evolving architecture of the self. Serene, mystical figures emerge and intertwine within delicate balances — between two and three dimensions, past and future, masculine and feminine. Within these liminal spaces, opposing states coexist harmoniously, channelling a sense of universal connection where the sacred and physical converge.

Their relief azulejo panel technique pays homage to Portuguese cultural and architectural heritage and craftsmanship. By honouring tradition while reshaping it through a contemporary visual language, they seek to create works that exist simultaneously in memory and the present — timeless expressions of the human experience. Their ceramic pieces are now held in private collections worldwide, continuing to evolve through a synchronised and intuitive collaboration.

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Expanded Eye United Kingdom, b. 2010

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