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erick swenson

By Charles Dee Mitchell

When I look at notes I've taken on Erick Swenson’s sculptures, I see that I constantly refer to them as something-like. I have notes on creatures that are apelike, sheeplike, and weasel-like. Cast in polyurethane resin and more or less life size, they are sometimes very much like these animals. But the apes wear mountain-climbing gear, the weasel sports a Fair Isle sweater, and there seems to be something off about the sheep’s legs.

There is also often a disturbing amount of attention paid to their tiny, very even teeth. If you discount their pristine hairlessness, the young deer Swenson has created over the last two years would possibly pass muster in a natural history diorama, except that in nature fawns don't wear leather chokers around their necks and hind legs. These recent deer, however, are certainly more naturalistic than Edgar (1998). Part horse and part poodle, he was a pitiable and laughable creature who nevertheless, posed atop a snowy crag, maintained a beleaguered dignity. He struck me as Edwin-Landseer’s-Monarch-of-the-Glen-like.

The high level of consciousness and adaptational skills displayed by Swenson’s creations suggests an alternative evolutionary path that has placed them, or perhaps stranded them, in a humanlike position in their world. All we see of EB (2002) is his simian head, which is white and aged, with wrinkles around the eyes and on his cheeks. He is hairless and white, but his red eyes suggest world-weariness rather than albinism. As a sculpture, EB has the sagacious presence of an ancient bust of a Roman senator. Read the entire article here
Source: hammer.ucla.edu

erick swenson

Q.E.D., a new space in Los Angeles for the exhibition of contemporary art, is a collaboration between David Quadrini of Angstrom Gallery in Dallas and Elizabeth Dee of Elizabeth Dee Gallery in New York. Q.E.D. is pleased to announce its inaugural exhibition by Erick Swenson at 2622 South La Cienega Boulevard. A reception for the artist will be held on Saturday, May 28, from 6 to 8 pm.

Erick Swenson creates uncanny sculptural tableaux that feature strangely mutated animals in circumstances fraught with pathos. His untitled piece seen at the Hammer Museum in 2003 and at the Whitney Biennial the following year portrayed a young, hairless, and ethereally white deer rubbing the velvet from his antlers on a large Persian carpet. Both deer and carpet were cast in the same polyurethane resin and then painted and finished with a high degree of verisimilitude.

In the work exhibited at Q.E.D., a large white plinth melts into a scene of snowy slush covering a pavement of Belgian blocks. A white deer, perhaps the same one, slightly older with a larger rack, sprawls on the ground. His head weighed down by the icicles that have grown from his antlers, one hind leg raised and bearing more icicles, he appears to have frozen to the pavement at the same time he melts into the snow. His eyes remain open, however, conscious of his plight. Read the entire article here Source: gedgallery.com

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Other artists in Abstract America: New Painting And Sculpture Kristin Baker | John Bauer | Mark Bradford | Joe Bradley | Tom Burr | Jedediah Caesar | Carter | Eric and Heather ChanSchatz | Peter Coffin | Guerra de la Paz | Francesca DiMattio | Bart Exposito | Mark Grotjahn | Jacob Hashimoto | Rachel Harrison | Patrick Hill | Matt Johnson | Ryan Johnson | Paul Lee | Chris Martin | Elizabeth Neel | Baker Overstreet | Stephen G. Rhodes | Amanda Ross-Ho | Sterling Ruby | Gedi Sibony | Amy Sillman | Agathe Snow | Kirsten Stoltmann | Dan Walsh | Jonas Wood | Aaron Young

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