Ena Swansea

The New York paintings by Ena Swansea give a dark image of the Big Apple. The nightlife-representations in the clubs of New York, in which she is interested in the mix of sexual identities, are confronted with unusual points of view on New York, such as the sights on parades in the avenues of the metropolis, giving childish and threatening features to the gigantism of Manhattan. The very elaborate and new preparation of the fabrics, characterized by many layers of graphite, gives to works a rainy and mineral atmosphere, absorbing the light or, according to the angle of view, reflecting it with a frozen brightness. However, this smooth and metal base, which gives kind of an unstable look to the colours, represents more than a simple optical effect: it gives to works of Ena Swansea an additional metaphorical density.