American artist Swoon has been in the country for almost a week, and her first Australian exhibition will be opened on Wednesday night by Premier Ted Baillieu.
32-year-old Caledonia Dance Curry, better know around the world as Swoon, arrived in Australia last week for the very first time.
She will install and open her exhibition at Metro Gallery on Wednesday, and plans to tour the central and northern deserts to meet with Indigenous artists.
Swoon is famous for several reasons. She crashed the 2009 Venice Biennale by sailing into the Grand Canal at 3am in massive ships made from New York garbage. She has created life-sized woodblock and cut paper portraits that hang on walls in various states of decay in cities internationally. She has had many pieces of work on show in MoMA and the Tate Modern. She has an inspirational uncompromising belief in social change. She uses scavenged and local materials, and believes that art is an immersive, provocative and transformative experience for its participants. And she has an astonishing name given to her by her hippie parents.
Swoon has just built a four metre high by six metre wide installation inside Melbourne’s Metro Gallery, creating towers and buildings made from timber and cardboard, and inspired by the ancient holy town of Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges River.
The exhibition will be opened by Premier Ted Baillieu at Metro Gallery, 1214 High St Armadale, on Wednesday February 16, from 6.30-8.30pm. Swoon will be in attendance. Her exhibition will run until March 5.
