Benjamin Swaim

An exhibition of new work by Benjamin Swaim will debut at Art Ono Seoul for its second edition. 

The Franco-American contemporary impressionist presents an intimate and compelling series Make Up focusing on the human subject in pulsating bold and bright hues. Make Up seemingly questions its role play as a medium (and facade) in how the human condition unfolds in the ever-changing expectations of reality.  

Edward Hopper´s, Soir Bleu comes to mind.  Painted in 1914 in New York focusing on the lone figure which is a clown in a cafe amongst other everyday characters provides a critique of Parisian life from an outsiders perspective.  A distinct sense of melancholy and sadness.

For Swaim, the experience of painting is still a powerful sensory and emotive engagement, often a measure to release a certain tension and allow the audience to respond in your own way.  Each painting portrays a quiet presence and a resonating beauty evoking a sense to grapple with the concept of identity, the emotional and psychological undertones – while they hold a desire to confront the contractions of perception and narrative, temporality and space.