After receiving  a zine by artist Mike Swaney, “The Zulu Nationals”, as a gift from a friend over the holidays, I realized he is an artist I would like to share. I first saw his collages of mashed up faces in his recent exhibition at Igualpop Gallery and had to settle with a free poster which had some of my favorite collages. These frontal portraits are layered masks of colored paper which allow shy characters to peer out from behind their crusty, inside out faces. Vibrantly charred and geometric, these playful characters seem to sit for their ID photo at the metro station, but the resulting image is one that sees past the surfaces of their skin.  If it were not for their rigid geometry,  they would transform into sloppy, chocolate covered kid faces.

www.michaelswaney.com

Posted by: matt o. under Things We Like