We have been following Swoon's work for almost 20 years, and ever since her first cover story and feature with Juxtapoz in February 2006, we have watched her work evolve from wheatpastes on the streets to rafts floating on the Mediterranean to full-on philanthropic events. Her most recent show, Raggedy Hecate and the Memory Box at Chandran Gallery (and feature in the Winter 2019 issue), shows anther expansion on the artist's practice: stop-motion animations.
Hecate, for reference, was "the goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy. She was the only child of the Titanes Perses and Asteria from whom she received her power over heaven, earth, and sea." And thinking of this goddess connects with Swoon's new experiments in stop-motion (see below). There is something magical and almost ghost-like in these animations, something slightyl haunted and deep under the surface but illuminating. Swoon noted on her IG recenty, "2018 has had me in a funny place. I’ve been cleaning out all the closets and attics of my life (literally and metaphorically). I’ve started to transition some of my community based projects to folks who can carry the torch in their own way. I’ve stopped doing block prints. Big installations and street pastes are now a rare thing. I’m experimenting with time based story telling using intuitive, subconsciously driven narratives. I’m pulling my energies back in toward my center because there’s something in there that wants my attention."
This explains a lot in the context of what you see below, but also in the works in the new show. These treasure boxes and cabinets that unlock hidden details and artifacts, mixed with her iconography show a transition in not only her life, but artistic practice. As you can read in our recent interivew with the artist, 2019 will see a major evolution. We can't wait to see it.
View this post on InstagramMore stop-motion experiments from @swoonhq // read our interview with #Swoon on the site now ?