Ian Swanson

Ian Swanson’s paintings are staunchly monochromatic: black, grey, and white. Primary color accents—red, blue, yellow—and the corresponding negative of the image float to the surface and recede below the skin of the painting’s image. This lack of subjective decision-making establishes a narrow scope of control: Here is the hue, here is the accent, here is the feel. Summoning proto-Expressionists and contemporary artists alike, they provide a nuanced chain of continuity between current and past inflections of the human condition as expressed through painting. 

Swanson’s recent solo and collaborative exhibitions include Simone DeSousa, Detroit, Welcome Screen, London, WAKE, Detroit, Free Paarking, St. Louis, Bosi, New York, and D’Agostino & Fiore, New York.

Courtesy of ASHES/ASHES