Returning to a classic heavyweight in literature, Ernest Hemingway once stated, “in our darkest moments, we  don”t need solutions or advice. What we yearn for is simple human connection - a quiet presence, a gentle touch”.

Embracing a rich legacy to Modernist thought Benjamin Swaim paintings preserve the serene with simple gestures in bold and bright hues. His melancholic sense of comprehending the world unfolds in a series of oil renderings centring is a unique, idiosyncratic figure in a landscape, or an event alluring to the notion that something has taken place, or is about to happen. These actions, memories and particular moments are suspended in time. They embody a sense of the unknown, an absence of narrative and a quiet presence. 

The trees and the nature, the architecture and the geological formations are imbued with impressions of history, colour and form evoking the human condition. Like Hemingway suggests, Swaim´s oeuvre is a poignant reminder that humans are worthy of love and affection even in times of feeling incomplete and broken. 

Detail 

Raphael au cabanon

Oil on linen 

200 x 300 cm
2024

Selected solo exhibitions at Treignac Projet, Palette Terre, Palais de Tokyo, CRAC de Montbeliard and Galerie Jean Brolly in Paris. Group exhibitions at Centre d'Art Contemporain de Noisy-Le-Sec, CIAC de Vassiviere, Galerie Francesca Pia, Zurich and Gallery Air de Paris.

This is Benjamin Swaim´s debut exhibition in Australia and Asia. This exhibition is a double presentation with Make-up series exclusively for Art Ono in Seoul, April 11-13, 2025.