I love the mechanics of an Eleanor Swordy painting. They often feel and view like a conversation with itself, the artist speaking about their craft to the subject in the painting. At times I laugh, at times there is an anxious feeling of a deadline or something that needs to be finished, but there is also a detailed view of a life making. Busy Signals, which just opened at Max Hetzler in London, feels active, in motion, dedicated, considered, controlled and yet just a bit chaotic. It seems so apt that Swordy uses a quote from philosopher Martin Buber to kick off the show: "Every means is an obstacle. Only where all means have disintegrated encounters occur."
Swordy so perfectyl conveys this quote. There are steps here in the creativity, steps in which the artist is unveiling how her paintings emerge. The gallery notes, "Temperament dictates whether this drama is acknowledged by the artist or else conveniently disavowed." How vivid a description of such vivid paintings. —Evan Pricco
