If there was ever an artist in our magazine's history that combines American folk with urbanism, the idea of the collective with a completely personal and experimental vision, very few artists match the career of Swoon. There is both an elegance and grittiness to her work, born from the early days of what we now called Street Art to philanthropic projects in Haiti and museum shows around the world. She is a singular artist, one that seems to capture a poetic language that is now expanded into her newest stop-motion animation works. 


The Brooklyn-based artist is back with one of her earliest champions, Deitch Projects, for Cicada, in what the gallery even notes "marks a new development in Swoon’s practice. A celebration of rebirth and transformation, the exhibition at 76 Grand Street features recent films, drawings, and installations in which her personal story becomes more central."

These new silent animations have an almost Silent Era film feeling to them, enticing and engaging in their beauty and movement. Deitch Projects points out, "Swoon’s stop-motion films emphasize the body’s ability to serve as a vessel carrying memories and traditions. A house, a ship, and human figures split and open to liberate a cast of imaginative and mythological creatures trapped inside. The central figure is the 'Tarantula Mother,' a half-human, half-spider allegory that evokes traumatic memories from childhood. Swoon’s response to parts of her family history – and the legacy of her parents’ addiction and substance abuse – has recurred throughout her work. These components inflict a strong element of realism to the films, grounding the otherwise- whimsical atmospheres of Cicada."

Stay tuned for more installation views in the coming weeks.