The Emotional Architecture of Swoon’s Intimate Block Prints
about 5 months ago (12/07/2023)
The Emotional Architecture of Swoon’s Intimate Block Prints Skip to content Caledonia Curry (Swoon), “Sasu and Kasei 3” (2022), coffee-stained block print on mylar with hand painted acrylic and gouache embellishments, 90 x 62 inches (all photos Lynn Trimble/ Hyperallergic ) MESA, Ariz. — Behind a saturated blue gallery wall, eight portraits by Brooklyn-based artist Caledonia Curry, also known as Swoon, transform the stark white walls of a small exhibition space inside Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in Arizona, creating an intimate encounter with pieces that signal the expansive history and reach of the artist’s creative practice. Gift in the Rupture conveys the emotional architecture inherent in Swoon’s extensive more than two-decade body of work, though lacking the complex layers of storytelling and elaborate mixed-media materials prevalent in her previous monumental works. This range includes her early clandestine wheat paste street art, sculptural junk rafts used to crash the 2009 Venice Biennale, elaborate sculptures supporting guided meditation, stop-gap animation informed by psychedelic-assisted therapy, and more.