07/18/2018
"Kime Contemporary gallery director Alec Stewart was so committed to show the works of artist Henry Swanson at the contemporary art gallery on East 10th Street that he drove the artist himself from Dallas, Texas, to Indy for the month-long exhibition.
The pair met each other while studying at Rhode Island School of Design, and they have kept in touch since. “He sees the humor in overthinking and under-thinking, which is similar to the paintings,” says Swanson. Swanson has epilepsy, so a road trip with large paintings would have been a challenge without a little help.
The exhibition, Snoopy Tattoo, features nine oil paintings with titles such as “Untitled (‘I Sneezed with My Eyes Open Until I Cried’)” and “Untitled (‘Winnie the Pooh Obviously Has a Clear Idea of What Clothes Are So Why Are We Still Discussing It’).”
“Alec and I set up this show the same way I put together a painting,” says Swanson. “It was like a Pretty Woman montage with trying different, sometimes bad ideas without being too serious.”
Snoopy Tattoo comes from Swanson’s apprehension about making permanent decisions. He tells me his paintings start off active and without too much planning, a lot like a Snoopy tattoo. The references are evident with stylistic brushstrokes and compositions derived from classical paintings and flat representations that look clearly sourced from digital images off phone screens or computer monitors.
There are some neon spray-painted words as well as logotype lettering that references corporate branding. But as a whole, the works do not appear to be collaged or to be digitally assembled. They remain painterly and break away from classical beauty into abstract surrealism from canvas area to area; a basketball player’s bent knee glows and folds in all the right places, but the hand’s barely distinguishable fingers that hold up logs are treated with the same thoughtful purpose."
Jennifer encounters Snoopy, Donald Trump, and Frida Kahlo on her monthly rounds.
