Ken Swan
'10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4...
and Then There Were None - Please Explain?'
enamels on board
'Are We There Yet?'
oil, mixed & enamels
'Did I Say That'
oil collage & enamel
'Venus Speaks And Mars Rises'
acrylic & inks
'Fractured Media'
oil & lacquer (detail below)
works from Please Explain
June/July 2017
'Twilight'
'Tenterfield'
'Homepath'
'Stream'
artworks in oils from Miniatures - December 2016/January 2017
'Dylan and Ray in abstract conversation'
'Pearl In The Green'
oil and enamel
(detail right)
'Crucifixion of the Gentle Ego'
oil, ink, infused Shellac & wax
artworks from Decadence - A celebration of 10 Years of Art and Community - November/December 2016
'Portrait of Bykowski'
mixed media
'Dialogue on Face book 2'
oil & lacquer
'Promised Land'
oil & mixed enamels
'Road to Lismore'
oil & mixed enamels
from Everything Old is New Again - February 2016
'Egret, series 1, no. 1'
'Egret, series 2, no. 1'
'Egret, series 1, no. 2'
'Egret, series 2, no. 2'
'Egret, series 1, no. 3'
'Egret, series 2, no. 3'
Ken Swan's
oil on board artworks
from the exhibitions
- January/February 2014
- December 2013 - January 2014
'Coff's Creek'
''Dante's Journey' a personal metaphor'
'House On The Hill'
'Burnt Landscape' (1)
'Burnt Landscape' (2)
'Burnt Landscape' (3)
'Burnt Landscape' (4)
mixed media artworks from Me and You - August 2013
'Loss & Longing'
ink and shellac
'Yearning'
acrylic
from Scarlet
July 2013
'Snapshots of Compassion: Stuart Adams'
Oil painting part 1
-1020x750
'Snapshots of Compassion: Stuart Adams'
Oil painting part 2
- 1200x900
Artist's Statement
My subject Stuart Adams is a local pharmacist I have come to know over a period of 5 years.
I first met Stuart as a result of my self-destructive lifestyle and addiction to opiates
to which I had been addicted for 35 years.
Stuart administers a pharmacological program for recovering addicts
(the dosing of Methadone and Bufranorphine,)
in which I have participated since 2004.
His capacity for empathy and genuine sympathy has been profound
in my re-emergence into the ‘light’ of human socialisation.
When I entered the program I was extremely isolated, paranoid, and fearful of human contact.
However; the program required I visit Stuart (for my supervised dose of Bufranorphine)
at first, every morning for three months, then thrice weekly for six months,
and so on, until I was safe from relapsing.
Throughout the prolonged process my waiting times at the pharmacy
were spent observing Stuarts’ relationships with his clients
(the aged, mothers/babies, the terminally ill, etc)
and as a result he unconsciously became a mentor.
By experiencing daily snapshots of his compassion and friendship,
I have recovered my spirit and been enriched.
These paintings are a visual compilation of those snapshots.
- Ken Swan, June 2013
Artist Ken Swan and subject/mentor Stuart Adams
from the Northern Rivers Portrait Prize
June/July 2013
About Ken Swan
Ken in addition to his drawing and painting is an accomplished guitarist and vocalist.
He has spent most of his creative life either touring with various rock bands
or setting up studios, painting and exhibiting.
In 1984 Ken semi retired from the rock touring industry and settled in Coffs Harbour
where he set up studio in an old piano factory.
There he and his partner reared their two children, ran a market stall and painted, (exhibiting frequently).
During this period Ken focused on wildlife painting
and received a number of local awards for his drawings and paintings.
His wildlife mural at Coffs Harbor Regional Airport
and council commissioned posters of the Coffs region are well known and admired.
He has been employed by the Tourism Board NSW as art director since 1991.
He was also commissioned to paint a series on coastal birds by national Geographic Australia.
In 2002 Ken relocated to Lismore
and undertook part-time studies in Bachelor of Visual Arts at Southern Cross University.
In 2005 however, in the midst of his tourism work and studies,
he was affected by a series of strokes from which he has only recently fully recovered.
During this recovery he ran a part time business restoring antique furniture
(stringed musical instruments) and teaching guitar and mandolin.
In late 2012 as part of recovery he felt fit enough to take up painting again.
The artists Ken counts among his influences:
Max Ernst, Rothko, De kooning, most German and American Expressionists
and the poetry of Whitman, Frost, Dickenson, Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd.
Ken is a bibliophile and feels his creative impulses are inspired more
by the words of the great writers/poets of the modern period than of the painters.
His mantra: “If you can talk about it, why paint it.” (Francis Bacon)