Untitled (‘The thing that you see before it all starts up again, and two flat ti

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Henry Swanson
Untitled (‘The thing that you see before it all starts up again, and two flat ti
2019

About the Item

An image of a tire, scrawled in black spray paint, floats above a realistically painted mountain range. The juxtaposition of two distinct styles has formed the basis of language for which artist Henry Swanson converses with the history of traditional painting and the function of contemporary painting. He is formally very skilled, able to depict realistic scenes from memory. However this depiction is not engaging to the artist. He is engaged with a dialogue between what he was taught and his own, unique, voice as a painter. The tension in his work is wonderful and as a result, Henry has achieved a highly unique practice. One that is raw and visceral but also refined at times. There is a clear hierarchy within Herny's work. The most detailed and realistic aspects are often turned sideways or placed on the bottom on the canvas. The sketchy, expressive, spray painted images remain at the upper most level and are painted after the realistic elements. By spraying on top of and even over his realistically painted scenes, there is an inherent sense of risk within the process, which invites chance and tension into an otherwise easily predicable way of painting. Born in Dallas, Texas, Swanson’s first experiences with fine art were highly conservative and subject to guidelines of stereotypical “Americana”. Conversations about what his drawings “should be” at a young age have maintained and shaped the humor and skepticism currently depicted within his paintings. The artist’s paintings dismissively respond to the childhood question, “What do you like to make pictures of?”. His realistically rendered horses, mountaintops, and portraits alongside seemingly nervous and minimally drawn doodles in spray paint, serve as both a sense of escapism to a childhood of arbitrary subject matter and an appreciation for decisively pared-down paintings of his contemporaries. Swanson’s works are not without irony. Calling attention to the dated sense of masculine Americana, with its obvious posturing, the artist imbues his paintings with a sense of direct energy, while also capturing their blind search for validation. Henry Swanson is a fine artist examining polarities and performative aspects affecting the art world today. Swanson’s bisected oil on canvas paintings illustrate divisions in process, style, economic interest, time period, and cultural disparity. Considering the mythos of personal inspiration, culture as branding, and performative trendsetting in the fabrication of artwork, Swanson's work examines the identity of the artist and questions art’s role as a function of the crafter’s precious care, or the contextual aid to a social construct. Swanson maintains studios in Brooklyn, NY and Dallas, TX. He received his BFA from RISD. This painting was included in the artist's first exhibition with Massey Klein Gallery, May - June 2019.

Creator:
Henry Swanson (1993)
Creation Year:
2019
Dimensions:
Height: 72 in (182.88 cm)Width: 48 in (121.92 cm)Depth: 1.5 in (3.81 cm)
Medium:
Canvas,Oil,Spray Paint
Movement & Style:
Contemporary
Period:
2010-
Condition:
This is a new work but the artist. The canvas is textured, layered and "worked" by the artist. Any painting drippings, or texture is considered part of the work.
Gallery Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU98414573231