ART CITIES: N.York-Nan Swid
Engaging elements of painting, sculpture and collage, Nan Swid eloquently composes pieces at once emotionally evocative and intellectually challenging. Informed by the vocabulary of modern abstraction, Swid utilizes a variety of materials ranging from wax encaustic, pen and ink, paint and found objects to create lush constructions that highlight the interplay of form and surface.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo; Leila Heller Gallery Archive
Nan Swid’s recent work that are on show in her solo exhibition “Paint – Wax – Pencil – Ink” shines a light on the commonplace elements of everyday life. The subjects of her still life drawings, paintings and wall sculptures are drawn from the domestic environment, as Swid says, from “what I see in front of me”. They are snapshots of a moment, an object, a place, a feeling, a memory. Subjects are explored in multiple iterations and techniques. Fruit is rendered with pencil on paper and as paper cut out collages. Potted plants are sketched in monochrome ink on paper and as multi-colored cubist-like collages. The artwork reflects deep curiosity. It is restless. Brush gestures are quick and urgent, constructions are messy, edges are uneven. A drawing extends to the paper’s edge, almost bursting from its field. A sense of probing resides in the marks on paper. Defunct books are enveloped in encaustic paint, spliced and amassed to produce three-dimensional wall hybrids of painting and sculpture. While personal in scale, larger groupings of mixed media are assembled to create emotive wall compositions. Though her materials have an intrinsic beauty and value of their own, Swid is more concerned with how the elements of finished forms interact and play off one another than she is with the preciousness of their constituent parts. Often antique books coated in layers and layers of wax encaustic are nailed, bound or glued shut. At times, pages are removed and combined with bright cellophane, gold leaf and the yellowing pages of old newspapers—all to stirring effect. Unafraid to dissect her materials, Swid often resurrects objects by deconstructing them. With savvy, she excavates the beauty within weatherworn pages, legal ledgers, books and scraps of wallpaper to compose singular objects and provocative forms. Swid’s work is experimental at its core. The work has a sense of immediacy, too. This aspect lends a rhythm and energy all its own. Yet, the work always feels grounded. Though chance plays in her process — pouring wax encaustic and free-associative drawing — each decision is ultimately deliberate. This combination of chance and intention results in visually satisfying pieces, brimming with uncalculated beauty. Swid invites us to see the familiar objects of daily life in new ways and in new contexts, the domestic landscape being a creative canvas and armature for her visual exploration in all its “messy vitality”. The assortment of works asserts Swid’s visual acuity and delight in the everyday.
Photo: Nan Swid, Courtesy the artist and Leila Heller Gallery
Info: Leila Heller Gallery, 17 East 76th Street (off Madison Avenue), New York, NY, USA, Duration: 3/5-4/6/2022, Days & Hours: Mon-Sat 10;00-18:00, www.leilahellergallery.com/
