Contemporary Artist & Activist SWOON
“Cicada and Tymbal”
A solo exhibition of stop-motion animated videos and stills presented as NFTs.
Opening Reception: Saturday July 17th, 6-9PM
Exhibition on View through Thursday, July 22nd
SUPERCHIEF GALLERY NFT
56 East 11th Street | New York, NY 10003
Visiting Hours: Monday — Sunday, 12-6pm
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Artist Credit: Swoon, Sofia and the Storm.
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New York, NY – Superchief Gallery NFT proudly presents “Cicada and Tymbal”, a solo exhibition of stop-motion animated videos and stills that are available as NFTs by contemporary artist and activist Swoon, opening on Saturday, July 17th and on view through Thursday, July 22nd. This exhibition, which serves as Swoon’s debut solo outing with the gallery, takes the viewer on an immersive visual voyage into the artist’s personal history with works that intertwine images from memory and mythology to signify metamorphosis and healing. The eastern United States is currently witnessing billions of cicadas are appearing in the biggest emergence event since 2004. The insects are part of a group called Brood X, which has been subterranean for 17 years. They have emerged to mate, with the males emitting a loud, buzzing drone, flexing a drum-like organ called a tymbal. The submergence and subsequent emergence of the cicada represent the personal transformation of the artist Swoon. Her film Cicada, stitched together from a series of stop-motion animated vignettes, takes the viewer on a journey from trauma and pain to metamorphosis and healing.
Swoon depicts vessels (houses, buildings, boats, and bodies) that contain the artist’s memories of childhood trauma stemming from a family environment marred by addiction and chaos. The vessels open, uncovering layers of unresolved trauma – airing out and exposing her wounds in the first step of her healing process. As these wounds are exposed, the “Tarantula Mother,” a signifier for the therapeutic process, pours out, transforming and rebuilding the artist into a more robust and resilient form.
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Artist Credit: Swoon, Mask.
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Caledonia Curry, known professionally as Swoon, credits New York and the creative process with saving her life. After a chaotic childhood in Florida, raised in an environment with parents in the throes of addiction, Swoon moved to New York to attend Pratt. Her fascination with the city led her to break into the male-dominated world of street art. She first gained attention for her large-scale, highly detailed works on the exterior walls of buildings. Over time, Swoon began to move her practice from exterior walls into the gallery with large-scale three-dimensional installations.
After confronting her trauma and learning more about the underlying issues that caused her parents to self-medicate, she chose to help others heal through her art and outreach and community-based projects. She works to help alleviate the suffering of other addicts, showing compassion and illuminating the tools to confront their trauma and begin the healing process.
Swoon’s imagery emanates the artist’s journey through the psychedelic therapy process in a style that recalls German expressionism. Her block printing reflects the work of Käthe Kollwitz. The lines are also reminiscent of Robbie Conal’s political portrait posters. Swoon names William Kentridge as a significant influence. He described his animation as the ideal medium to depict transformation. Swoon’s films breathe life into the imagery of her two-dimensional street art and massive three-dimensional installations.
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Artist Credit: Swoon, Angel.
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Press Contact:
Nathalie Levey, Color Brigade Media
(917) 648-3126
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ABOUT SUPERCHIEF GALLERY
Superchief Gallery was born out of the underground art scene of New York and is now as an independent artist-run gallery with permanent large scale warehouse locations in New York City, Downtown LA and Wynwood, Miami, founded in 2012 by Edward Zipco & Bill Dunleavy.
As a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary platform, Superchief Gallery has a near 10 year history of supporting artists from disparate scenes & collectives, enabling them to participate in the larger cultural movement and we are proud to act as an extension of the art landscape in its most raw and honest form.
Superchief Gallery has been working with digital artists since 2015 and when we saw that NFTs were enabling the artform of our generation to finally be accepted by the art world at large- as well as and more importantly, enabling Artist Royalties – we committed fully to this essential future by opening the world’s first physical NFT gallery in NYC.
Our goal is to show a new generation of art collectors how to properly evaluate and collect NFTs from both Digital Native & Traditional Artists as well as visually presenting how to live with NFTs as the newest part of their collection at home.
Superchief Gallery NFT is working alongside the hardware community at large to create the industry standard for the contemporary art world — presenting NFT artwork IRL as the artists intended it to be experienced.
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Pictured: Exterior of Superchief Gallery NFT.
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