MIKE SWANEY

In the solo show No Games, Mike Swaney presents a multi-layered body of new mixed media works, rendered through a broad range of techniques -oil pastel, acrylic or spray paint- produced during his residency period in Baix Empordà. Infused with “outsider art” and “art brut”, Swaney is interested in the act of playing, as a space of freedom, where we operate intuitively, albeit within a particular set of parameters. Especially in art, boundaries are set at a very young age, but spontaneous play and games are fundamental for kids, and as adults we need to continue to play. Between domino boards, tally marks and hopscotches, he invites the audience to look closely and start questioning. The close observer will see that the numbering on both the domino boards and hopscotches are not “according to the rules”- tilting the balance of the work towards schemes and repetition. Rather than talking about the “rules of the game” we are looking at series, aesthetic compositions, and quirky patterning. When stripped of the habitual line of action, these games take on a whole different direction, giving room to shape and scale as the protagonists.The domino game finds its origin in Egypt and travelled through China to become one of the world’s most widespread tools for amusement. For Swaney, dominoes can be a metaphor for painting, and the other way around. In both realms, you can ́t be sure of the outcome until the game is finished, yet with each stone laid on the board, the game is conditioned, just as a canvas is with each brushstroke. The domino paintings come to be like mazes or labyrinths in which each of us can find their own destiny.