Swoon (artist)
Encyclopedia
Swoon is a street artist born in New London, Connecticut
, and raised in Daytona Beach, Florida
. She moved to New York City
at age nineteen, and specializes in life-size wheatpaste
prints and paper cutouts of figures. Swoon, real name Caledonia Dance Curry, studied painting at the Pratt Institute
in Brooklyn
and started doing street art around 1999.
.
with "the Swimming Cities of Serenissima," a performance project similar to the Miss Rockaway Armada and the Swimming Cities of the Switchback Sea. The crew sailed from Slovenia in rafts made of New York City garbage, as well as one raft made from material scrapped along the coast of Slovenia. The project stopped at various points on the way to meet the locals, collect artifacts for their on-board "cabinet of curiosities" and to prepare for the culminating performance entitled, "The Clutchess of Cuckoo." Once in the Venice Lagoon, the rafts and their company performed throughout Venice nightly and docked at Certosa Island
. They "barnstormed" the Grand Canal at 3:00 a.m.
The primary focus of building is on the super-adobe technique of earth bag architecture, which is an extraordinary building design for its ability to create earthquake, hurricane, flood, and fire resistant structures, using inexpensive and locally available resources. Originally designed by Nader Khalili and continued by Cal-Earth, this system of building provides an easily replicable model, which can be built without using specialized construction machinery. Utilizing 90% earth, and only 10% cement, these structures are stronger than the now common cinder block and concrete slab construction. The technique also uses little to no wood, an invaluable asset in timber depleted Haiti.
As of December 2010 a community center and a house have been completed.
, Pennsylvania
the collective of artists and activists, known as Transformazium, provide classes and opportunities for hands-on learning. Their focus is on creative re-use, and re-imagining of Braddock’s derelict urban spaces and resources. The goal is to turn an abandoned 1880s United Brethren Church and its adjacent lot into an experiential learning and arts-based community center.
In December 2011 Swoon held her first solo exhibition in London, England, filling the gallery at Black Rat Projects with sculptures and paper cuts.
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
, and raised in Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, USA. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city has a population of 64,211. Daytona Beach is a principal city of the Deltona – Daytona Beach – Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which the census bureau estimated had...
. She moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
at age nineteen, and specializes in life-size wheatpaste
Wheatpaste
Wheatpaste is a liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water. It has been used since ancient times for various arts and crafts such as book binding, decoupage, collage, and papier-mâché...
prints and paper cutouts of figures. Swoon, real name Caledonia Dance Curry, studied painting at the Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and started doing street art around 1999.
Street Pasting
Swoon regularly pastes works depict realistically rendered people, often her friends and family, on the streets in various places around the world. Usually, pieces are pasted on uninhabited locations such as abandoned buildings, bridges, fire escapes, water towers and street signs. Her work is inspired by both art historical and folk sources, ranging from German Expressionist wood block prints to Indonesian shadow puppets.Miss Rockaway Armada, 2006
Swoon is a founding member of the art collective the Miss Rockaway Armada a collective of about 30 artists, performers and musicians who traveled down the Mississippi River the summers of 2006 and 2007 on rafts made from scavenged and recycled materials found in New York City. Starting in Minneapolis, the rafts journeyed to St. Louis, making stops along the way to stage performances.Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea, 2008
In the summer of 2008 she presented a two-part exhibition with Deitch Projects called Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea. It was a large installation inside the Deitch Studios space as well as a journey of seven handmade sculptural wooden rafts from Troy, NY down the Hudson River and up the East River in New York City to the Deitch Studios gallery. Every night the crew would stage a performance on the banks of the river, with musical accompaniment from the band Dark Dark DarkDark Dark Dark
Dark Dark Dark is an American chamber folk band based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Formed in 2006, the band has toured extensively in the United States and Europe and is known for their blend of New Orleans jazz, Americana, Eastern European folk and pop sensibilities.In 2008 Dark Dark Dark...
.
Swimming Cities of Serenissima, 2009
Swoon and a crew of 30 crashed the 2009 Venice BiennaleVenice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
with "the Swimming Cities of Serenissima," a performance project similar to the Miss Rockaway Armada and the Swimming Cities of the Switchback Sea. The crew sailed from Slovenia in rafts made of New York City garbage, as well as one raft made from material scrapped along the coast of Slovenia. The project stopped at various points on the way to meet the locals, collect artifacts for their on-board "cabinet of curiosities" and to prepare for the culminating performance entitled, "The Clutchess of Cuckoo." Once in the Venice Lagoon, the rafts and their company performed throughout Venice nightly and docked at Certosa Island
La Certosa
La Certosa is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It is located north-west of Venice, less than 250 meters from San Pietro di Castello and little more than 500 meters from the Venice; a ca. 20 m-wide channel separates it from the Vignole island...
. They "barnstormed" the Grand Canal at 3:00 a.m.
Konbit Shelter, 2010-present
Konbit Shelter is a sustainable building project with the objective of sharing knowledge and resources through the creation of homes and community spaces in post-earthquake Haiti. A group of artists, builders, architects and engineers are working to build permanent, creatively designed structures, which utilize the advantages of earth bag and dome architecture as adapted to the climate and conditions of rural Haiti.The primary focus of building is on the super-adobe technique of earth bag architecture, which is an extraordinary building design for its ability to create earthquake, hurricane, flood, and fire resistant structures, using inexpensive and locally available resources. Originally designed by Nader Khalili and continued by Cal-Earth, this system of building provides an easily replicable model, which can be built without using specialized construction machinery. Utilizing 90% earth, and only 10% cement, these structures are stronger than the now common cinder block and concrete slab construction. The technique also uses little to no wood, an invaluable asset in timber depleted Haiti.
As of December 2010 a community center and a house have been completed.
Transformazium
Based in BraddockBraddock
-Places:England* Braddock, Cornwall** Battle of Braddock Down, 1643Antarctica* Braddock NunataksCanada* Braddock, Saskatchewan* Braddock Lake, a reservoirUnited States* Braddock, North Dakota* Braddock, Pennsylvania...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
the collective of artists and activists, known as Transformazium, provide classes and opportunities for hands-on learning. Their focus is on creative re-use, and re-imagining of Braddock’s derelict urban spaces and resources. The goal is to turn an abandoned 1880s United Brethren Church and its adjacent lot into an experiential learning and arts-based community center.
Exhibitions
Swoon started doing large-scale installations in 2005.In December 2011 Swoon held her first solo exhibition in London, England, filling the gallery at Black Rat Projects with sculptures and paper cuts.
Press
- Barging In to Venice
- NY Times Article
- NY Times article
- Interview with The Morning NewsThe Morning News (online magazine)The Morning News is a U.S.-based daily online magazine founded in 1999 by Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack. It began as an email newsletter and in the fall of 2000 evolved into a news-oriented weblog with a New York focus...
- Sadie Magazine interview
- Gammablog interview
- KultureFlash interview
- Rising Artist on Curbs and Stoops
- October 10, 2008 "Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea", Scribe Media
- November 2008, "A Two Way Street", ARTNEWS
- Interview with The Huffington PostThe Huffington PostThe Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
- video about Swoon's project Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea at Deitch Projects, New York. 2008
- interview with Swoon about the Portrait of Silvia Elena at Honey Space, New York
- Article and Interview in Time Out London, November 25, 2011
Appearances in other media
- Swoon as herself, Exit Through the Gift ShopExit Through the Gift ShopGuetta happily accepts the assignment, adopting the name "Mr. Brainwash", putting up street art in the city and six months later, re-mortgaging his business to afford renting copious equipment and a complete production team to create pieces of art under his supervision...
, Banksy, 2010 - Swoon as herself, Our City of Dreams, Chiara Clemente, 2009
- Swoon at Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...