city weekly artical
‘Mixed’ Media
first solo effort satisfies despite unity issues in UNDERGROUND space
By Michael Joe Krainak
The very title of the current exhibit in the bemisUNDERGROUND is daunting enough in itself. After the playful, highly interactive “Moving Crew (Land Grant Flag-State Construct),” “Separation,Depression, Religion and Control” attempts “to make a human connection … by investigating thebeliefs, relationships, feelings and fears surrounding death and dying.”
Curated by Dave Swensen and featuring his own art in this first solo effort, his show at the BemisCenter for Contemporary Arts opened last weekend and will continue through Sept. 22. Swensen is from Des Moines where he trained in graphic arts at the area community college, but has sincemoved on as witnessed in this exhibit. In his articulate, beautifully designed proposal for “SDRC,” hesays, “I have no plans on conducting my art in a specific medium. I feel that art is a process andconstant progression.”
Consequently his show is a mixed media of painting, sculpture, video and installation. Judging by its issue-oriented title, “SDRC” seems at first purely conceptual and detached, but Swensen further explains that its “recurring and constant themes in my works affect me on a personal level.I enjoy exploiting past moments and dreaming about the future.”
The result is an interesting, original exhibit with a split personality and style that is partly at odds with itself and whose parts, several quite engaging, leave a more lasting impression than the show
as a whole.
Being both cerebral and expressionistic is not a problem. Several past shows in the UNDERGROUND have been both. Consider three recent examples, “One Man’s Trash” curated by Bart Vargas, “Dream House on Rye” curated by Robert Gilmer and “Nuclear Dichotomies” curated
by Tim Guthrie. Each of the three was able to unify conflicting styles and themes within the same allotted space.
Despite its polished, individual pieces, “SDRC” lacks continuity and the problem is twofold. Simply put, though the show’s issues are related, any one of its topics would have been all it could handle
and challenging enough given Swensen’s creative use of his media. As the best of Bemis’ offeringshave shown us regardless of the amount of work on display and the diversity of media, always keep it focused under one umbrella. In the future it will be interesting to see what Swensen will do withReligion alone because, as he said, as a topic it remains “unfinished business. I don’t yet knowwhere I stand on this issue.”
Secondly, part of the UNDER-GROUND’s challenge and success depends on the artist’s transformation of its unusual space into virtually one unifying installation in keeping with the show’s theme, style and subject matter. Quite literally, each time one enters the UNDERGROUND with the expectation of being transported to new space whether a fashion boutique (“Fabrication”), a time warp (“Fragment of Details”) or a street of dreams (“Dream House on Rye”). These and severalother installations worked because they took advantage of the UNDERGROUND’s low ceilings, asymmetrical balance, “secret” passageways, nooks and crannies with creative lighting, placement, sightlines and movement. “SDRC” comes close in its integration but falls just short of transformation.
Despite this, Swensen does manage to cover each of his show’s issues with works that are often enlightening or personal, sometimes both. In a well-articulated pamphlet that accompanies the show, the artist expands on the rather perfunctory titles of the works with explanations of their creative process or theme. This attention to detail is indicative not only of his discipline but his strong emphasis on communication. He says, “Understanding people is something I strive for” but this urgency hints at the alternative as well, the artist’s need to be understood, both by his audience and himself.
His work can be didactic, wearing its social conscience on its sleeve, yet it is never preachy and mostly personal. Though he feels “society dances around the idea of being truly happy, while being desensitized by the world around us,” he doesn’t leave himself out of the equation. Of the first seven paintings in the show, he says, “they are a dark representation of my adolescent years depicting the stereotypical relationship between a father and son.” Especially effective in this series are “Portrait,” “Family” and “Father and Son,” all of which depict their abstract figures as headless, hollowed out shells, clothed either in withered skins or tattered remnants. They appear on appropriately black and blue backgrounds, physically torn and emotionally scarred.
Swensen admits that his work in general is cathartic, therapeutic even, but he is unwilling to leave it at that. When viewing his work he would like his audience to see “that I’m just like you. I have problems too. We are all alike stripped of our social problems and materialism.” This may sound a bit like, “I’m OK, you’re OK” amateur psychology, but the best pieces in the show simply ask the viewer to “take a second and really assess what’s important in your life.”
This social dynamic is especially apparent in his video shorts and installation, “Artificial Life.”Though unique on their own, each shares a singular motif: large diaphanous aerobic balls made of
latex rubber and filled either with air or water or both. The first set of videos, “Snowman (one) and (two),” simply show the artist’s cyclical deconstruction, construction and deconstruction of a
childhood figure over a year in a one-minute loop. Swensen treats the balls as symbols of vanity and self worth and here the cycle could refer to how one constantly alters one’s self-identity according to social conformity and expectations.
Another effective video that continues this theme is “Collapsing and Expanding into Something You Have Always Wanted To Be.” A man and a woman both inflate an aerobic ball and create such an
emotional attachment to it that the ball follows them around like a ball and chain. It’s a clever comment not only on our misguided connections in society but perhaps our dependency as well. In “Until Death Parts Us,” Swensen offers a more upbeat scenario on commitment based not on misguided priorities but personal relationships.
“Artificial Life” is another work, this time a 15- by 20-foot park-like installation that is also similarin theme. Though poignant, unfortunately it has more impact in its digital design, which can be appreciated as a postcard made available at BU’s front desk. Swensen’s graphic and emotionally charged design of a transparent figure partially immersed in one of several semi-opaque balls replete with lifeless trees is more effective than the scene of artificial grass and leaf-bearing
trees in the show. Hopefully, the artist will not abandon his obvious computer design skills in the future.
“SDRC” also contains several of Swensen’s sculptures and while they effectively relate to his preoccupation with “death and dying” they still manage a disconnect with other pieces as well. These include the most dramatic and the most understated works, respectively, within this
additional theme, which are “The Fear of Death, the Fear of Dead Things,” a human skull made of a white soap melded to its pedestal and framed by a white fabric and “Acetaminophen + Effexor,” a simple soap construct that comments effectively on chemical dependency, depression and anxiety.
If “Separation, Depression, Religion and Control” proves one thing it is that Swensen is a talented and versatile artist who needs to take greater advantage of his design skills. It also demonstrates that when an UNDERGROUND show doesn’t exploit the full potential of its space it makes it even more challenging to unify both subject and theme especially when breadth and not brevity is the issue. Chalk that up to experience but credit Swensen for his sincerity and exuberance.
first solo effort satisfies despite unity issues in UNDERGROUND space
By Michael Joe Krainak
The very title of the current exhibit in the bemisUNDERGROUND is daunting enough in itself. After the playful, highly interactive “Moving Crew (Land Grant Flag-State Construct),” “Separation,Depression, Religion and Control” attempts “to make a human connection … by investigating thebeliefs, relationships, feelings and fears surrounding death and dying.”
Curated by Dave Swensen and featuring his own art in this first solo effort, his show at the BemisCenter for Contemporary Arts opened last weekend and will continue through Sept. 22. Swensen is from Des Moines where he trained in graphic arts at the area community college, but has sincemoved on as witnessed in this exhibit. In his articulate, beautifully designed proposal for “SDRC,” hesays, “I have no plans on conducting my art in a specific medium. I feel that art is a process andconstant progression.”
Consequently his show is a mixed media of painting, sculpture, video and installation. Judging by its issue-oriented title, “SDRC” seems at first purely conceptual and detached, but Swensen further explains that its “recurring and constant themes in my works affect me on a personal level.I enjoy exploiting past moments and dreaming about the future.”
The result is an interesting, original exhibit with a split personality and style that is partly at odds with itself and whose parts, several quite engaging, leave a more lasting impression than the show
as a whole.
Being both cerebral and expressionistic is not a problem. Several past shows in the UNDERGROUND have been both. Consider three recent examples, “One Man’s Trash” curated by Bart Vargas, “Dream House on Rye” curated by Robert Gilmer and “Nuclear Dichotomies” curated
by Tim Guthrie. Each of the three was able to unify conflicting styles and themes within the same allotted space.
Despite its polished, individual pieces, “SDRC” lacks continuity and the problem is twofold. Simply put, though the show’s issues are related, any one of its topics would have been all it could handle
and challenging enough given Swensen’s creative use of his media. As the best of Bemis’ offeringshave shown us regardless of the amount of work on display and the diversity of media, always keep it focused under one umbrella. In the future it will be interesting to see what Swensen will do withReligion alone because, as he said, as a topic it remains “unfinished business. I don’t yet knowwhere I stand on this issue.”
Secondly, part of the UNDER-GROUND’s challenge and success depends on the artist’s transformation of its unusual space into virtually one unifying installation in keeping with the show’s theme, style and subject matter. Quite literally, each time one enters the UNDERGROUND with the expectation of being transported to new space whether a fashion boutique (“Fabrication”), a time warp (“Fragment of Details”) or a street of dreams (“Dream House on Rye”). These and severalother installations worked because they took advantage of the UNDERGROUND’s low ceilings, asymmetrical balance, “secret” passageways, nooks and crannies with creative lighting, placement, sightlines and movement. “SDRC” comes close in its integration but falls just short of transformation.
Despite this, Swensen does manage to cover each of his show’s issues with works that are often enlightening or personal, sometimes both. In a well-articulated pamphlet that accompanies the show, the artist expands on the rather perfunctory titles of the works with explanations of their creative process or theme. This attention to detail is indicative not only of his discipline but his strong emphasis on communication. He says, “Understanding people is something I strive for” but this urgency hints at the alternative as well, the artist’s need to be understood, both by his audience and himself.
His work can be didactic, wearing its social conscience on its sleeve, yet it is never preachy and mostly personal. Though he feels “society dances around the idea of being truly happy, while being desensitized by the world around us,” he doesn’t leave himself out of the equation. Of the first seven paintings in the show, he says, “they are a dark representation of my adolescent years depicting the stereotypical relationship between a father and son.” Especially effective in this series are “Portrait,” “Family” and “Father and Son,” all of which depict their abstract figures as headless, hollowed out shells, clothed either in withered skins or tattered remnants. They appear on appropriately black and blue backgrounds, physically torn and emotionally scarred.
Swensen admits that his work in general is cathartic, therapeutic even, but he is unwilling to leave it at that. When viewing his work he would like his audience to see “that I’m just like you. I have problems too. We are all alike stripped of our social problems and materialism.” This may sound a bit like, “I’m OK, you’re OK” amateur psychology, but the best pieces in the show simply ask the viewer to “take a second and really assess what’s important in your life.”
This social dynamic is especially apparent in his video shorts and installation, “Artificial Life.”Though unique on their own, each shares a singular motif: large diaphanous aerobic balls made of
latex rubber and filled either with air or water or both. The first set of videos, “Snowman (one) and (two),” simply show the artist’s cyclical deconstruction, construction and deconstruction of a
childhood figure over a year in a one-minute loop. Swensen treats the balls as symbols of vanity and self worth and here the cycle could refer to how one constantly alters one’s self-identity according to social conformity and expectations.
Another effective video that continues this theme is “Collapsing and Expanding into Something You Have Always Wanted To Be.” A man and a woman both inflate an aerobic ball and create such an
emotional attachment to it that the ball follows them around like a ball and chain. It’s a clever comment not only on our misguided connections in society but perhaps our dependency as well. In “Until Death Parts Us,” Swensen offers a more upbeat scenario on commitment based not on misguided priorities but personal relationships.
“Artificial Life” is another work, this time a 15- by 20-foot park-like installation that is also similarin theme. Though poignant, unfortunately it has more impact in its digital design, which can be appreciated as a postcard made available at BU’s front desk. Swensen’s graphic and emotionally charged design of a transparent figure partially immersed in one of several semi-opaque balls replete with lifeless trees is more effective than the scene of artificial grass and leaf-bearing
trees in the show. Hopefully, the artist will not abandon his obvious computer design skills in the future.
“SDRC” also contains several of Swensen’s sculptures and while they effectively relate to his preoccupation with “death and dying” they still manage a disconnect with other pieces as well. These include the most dramatic and the most understated works, respectively, within this
additional theme, which are “The Fear of Death, the Fear of Dead Things,” a human skull made of a white soap melded to its pedestal and framed by a white fabric and “Acetaminophen + Effexor,” a simple soap construct that comments effectively on chemical dependency, depression and anxiety.
If “Separation, Depression, Religion and Control” proves one thing it is that Swensen is a talented and versatile artist who needs to take greater advantage of his design skills. It also demonstrates that when an UNDERGROUND show doesn’t exploit the full potential of its space it makes it even more challenging to unify both subject and theme especially when breadth and not brevity is the issue. Chalk that up to experience but credit Swensen for his sincerity and exuberance.
creighton university story
Allison Roy
09.10.07
Bemis Story
At first glance, Dave Swensen looks like any average young man you might meet on a stroll down Skinnard Mall on a given afternoon. His unassuming posture and laughing eyes in no way betrays the gravity of his character and the depth of artistic talent that is concealed behind the façade.
Depression, alienation, and death are concepts often skirted by our hastily progressive society, but to Des Moines based multi-media artist, Dave Swensen, these issues are the very crux of his debut exhibit Separation, Depression, Religion, & Control, now on display at the Bemis Underground. Through sculpture, installation, painting, and video-performance, Swensen explores the facets of desensitized society, barren relationships, tainted religion, and human susceptibility to illness in a non-traditional way, incorporating soap, saliva, anti-depressant medication, urine, and hair into his artwork.
“I guess, I’m kind of putting myself out there,” Swensen said when asked if the exhibit was autobiographical to an extent. “I mean, that’s my own [anti-depressant] medication in the sculptures.”
Swensen’s willingness to expose such personal details in his exhibit provides for a profound expedition into remote vulnerability. Not only does he put his past on display, he outwardly questions humanity, its nature, and the role of religion.
“I don’t think I can completely understand religion.” Swensen said. “I don’t think I ever will.” In a back room attached to the underground exhibit are feature pieces that make poignant statements about religious corruption.
Separation, Depression, Religion, & Control will be on display at the Bemis Underground until September 22nd. Gallery hours are noon to 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and admission is free. For more information regarding exhibits and artists featured at the Bemis Center, visit www.bemisunderground.org.
09.10.07
Bemis Story
At first glance, Dave Swensen looks like any average young man you might meet on a stroll down Skinnard Mall on a given afternoon. His unassuming posture and laughing eyes in no way betrays the gravity of his character and the depth of artistic talent that is concealed behind the façade.
Depression, alienation, and death are concepts often skirted by our hastily progressive society, but to Des Moines based multi-media artist, Dave Swensen, these issues are the very crux of his debut exhibit Separation, Depression, Religion, & Control, now on display at the Bemis Underground. Through sculpture, installation, painting, and video-performance, Swensen explores the facets of desensitized society, barren relationships, tainted religion, and human susceptibility to illness in a non-traditional way, incorporating soap, saliva, anti-depressant medication, urine, and hair into his artwork.
“I guess, I’m kind of putting myself out there,” Swensen said when asked if the exhibit was autobiographical to an extent. “I mean, that’s my own [anti-depressant] medication in the sculptures.”
Swensen’s willingness to expose such personal details in his exhibit provides for a profound expedition into remote vulnerability. Not only does he put his past on display, he outwardly questions humanity, its nature, and the role of religion.
“I don’t think I can completely understand religion.” Swensen said. “I don’t think I ever will.” In a back room attached to the underground exhibit are feature pieces that make poignant statements about religious corruption.
Separation, Depression, Religion, & Control will be on display at the Bemis Underground until September 22nd. Gallery hours are noon to 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and admission is free. For more information regarding exhibits and artists featured at the Bemis Center, visit www.bemisunderground.org.
world herald artical
Dave Swensen looks at life through death.
In his solo Bemis Underground show - "Separation, Depression, Religion and Control" - the multi-media artist investigates the beliefs, relationships, feeling and fears surrounding death and dying. He uses painting, video performance, sculpture and installation to portray his own life struggles.
It makes for a personal and somewhat vulnerable exhibition featuring paintings depicting helpless people separated by a massive flood. He also combines soap with materials such as medicine, saliva and hair as an examination of the human body
In his solo Bemis Underground show - "Separation, Depression, Religion and Control" - the multi-media artist investigates the beliefs, relationships, feeling and fears surrounding death and dying. He uses painting, video performance, sculpture and installation to portray his own life struggles.
It makes for a personal and somewhat vulnerable exhibition featuring paintings depicting helpless people separated by a massive flood. He also combines soap with materials such as medicine, saliva and hair as an examination of the human body
omaha reader review
Separation, Depression, Religion and Control: Dave Swensen
Aug. 24-Sept. 21
Separation, Depression, Religion and Control: Dave Swensen
Bemis Underground, 7-10 p.m. opening FREE, bemisunderground.org
I’ve never met someone who likes to think about death, but I know a lot of artists that find it a fabulous topic, and frankly, it often leads to some great, thought-provoking art. So is the case with Dave Swensen, whose one-man show explores the emotion, thoughts and fears that surround death. The idea that we don’t really like to think about death sort of re-enforces his whole point: through painting, video, sculpture and installation, he makes us think about it. Using “raw” materials like soap, medicine, saliva, urine and hair, it’s not always pretty. A lot of the work deals with his personal life, and through his vulnerability he makes us aware of our own.
— Sarah Baker
23 Aug 2007
Aug. 24-Sept. 21
Separation, Depression, Religion and Control: Dave Swensen
Bemis Underground, 7-10 p.m. opening FREE, bemisunderground.org
I’ve never met someone who likes to think about death, but I know a lot of artists that find it a fabulous topic, and frankly, it often leads to some great, thought-provoking art. So is the case with Dave Swensen, whose one-man show explores the emotion, thoughts and fears that surround death. The idea that we don’t really like to think about death sort of re-enforces his whole point: through painting, video, sculpture and installation, he makes us think about it. Using “raw” materials like soap, medicine, saliva, urine and hair, it’s not always pretty. A lot of the work deals with his personal life, and through his vulnerability he makes us aware of our own.
— Sarah Baker
23 Aug 2007
