Paul Swenbeck's work combines sculpture, painting, and photography to create installations that filter craft, the occult, and spiritual themes through his own idiosyncratic perspective. Swenbeck grew up in Salem, Massachusetts—a town synonymous with the witch trial hysteria of Colonial America. Swenbeck often collaborates with his wife, Joy Feasley, to create immersive installations; most recently, they created a large-scale environment for the John MIchael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI.
His work has been exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Morris Gallery at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Fleisher/Ollman and Vox Populi, all in Philadelphia; the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; LUMP Gallery and CAM Raleigh, both Raleigh, NC; and Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston. His work is in the West Collection, Oaks, PA, and the Altoids Curiously Strong Collection at the New Museum, New York, NY. Swenbeck was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 2013.
Charles Addams Fine Arts Gallery, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Jul 7–Jul 18, 2023
Kate Abercrombie, Sarah Gamble, Paul Swenbeck
(group)
In conjunction with PhilaDelic
Joy Feasley, Paul Swenbeck, Pat Maguire
(group)
Temple Contemporary
Philadelphia, PA
Oct 22, 2021–Feb 4, 2022
Paul Swenbeck and Joy Feasley
(group)
Center for Maine Contemporary Art
Rockland, Maine
May 29 – Sep 12, 2021
Organized by and featuring Joy Feasley and Paul Swenbeck, including Asata Radcliffe, Aaron Igler, Virgil Marti, Clint Takeda, Kelsey Halliday Johnson and Shannon Bowser.
Joy Feasley and Paul Swenbeck will present a collaborative installation, Midnight Sun, sponsored by Adams and Ollman and Fleisher/Ollman
(group)
Colonels Row, Governors Island
New York, NY
May 4 2019–Aug 4 2019
Bea Huff Hunter reviews Out, Out, Phosphene Candle at the John MIchael Kohler Arts Center
Video interview with Paul Swenbeck and Joy Feasley at Kohler Arts Center
(group)
John Michael Kohler Art Center
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Feb 25–Sep 02, 2018
Photo: Kohler Co., John Michael Kohler Arts Center
Adams and Ollman
Portland, OR
Jul 15–Aug 13, 2016
Including: Charles Burchfield, Joy Feasley, Johanna Jackson, Chris Johanson, Paul Swenbeck, Agatha Wojciechowsky
Gamble and Swenbeck are both included in Cam Raleigh's group exhibition, 'The Nothing That Is: Chapter 1 DDDRRRAAAWWWIIINNNGGG,' curated by Bill Thelen and Jason Polan.
CAM Raleigh, Raleigh, NC
June 5–September 7, 2015
Paul Swenbeck's (Un)Earthed is on view for ticketed passengers in Terminal A-West at the Philadelphia International Airport, through January 2016.
Swenbeck is included in:
Tiger Tiger
Salon 94 Bowery
Jul 07–Aug 21, 2015
Michael Assiff, Jules de Balincourt, Brian Belott, Katherine Bernhardt, Karin Gulbran, Shara Hughes, Marc Hundley, Misaki Kawai, Makiko Kudo, Nikki Maloof, Ryan Mrozowsky, Nicolas Party, David Benjamin Sherry, Yutaka Sone, Paul Swenbeck
Feasley and Swenbeck's collaborative installation A Hatchet to Kill Old Ugly at the Fabric Workshop and Museum's New Temporary Contemporary, is an Artforum Critics' Pick.
This collaborative installation of paintings, ceramics, furniture, sculpture and interior decor by Paul Swenbeck and Joy Feasley is inspired by Shaker spirit drawings and magic. The exhibition derives its title from a Shaker name for the Devil—“Old Ugly”—seen in spirit drawings, which the Shakers created to describe symbols seen in visions.
Fabric Workshop and Museum
The New Temporary Contemporary
1222 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107-2816
October 2, 2014–January 4, 2015
Icebox Project Space at Crane Arts
1400 N. American St., Philadelphia
Aug 14–Sep 13, 2014
Curated by Timothy Belknap, Ryan McCartney and Anna Neighbor, Begin Where You Are features 32 Philadelphia-based artists, including Anthony Campuzano, Sarah Gamble, Becky Suss and Paul Swenbeck.
Jennie Hirsh reviews Joan Nelson and Paul Swenbeck in Art in America.
Paul Swenbeck's work is included in MIDWINTER: Embrace The Darkness at Columbia College Chicago. MIDWINTER is the day on the calendar when there is the least amount of daylight and the longest period of night. It is on this day when the balance between light and dark swings decidedly in favor of the dark. Inspired by this time of year, the group exhibition MIDWINTER: Embrace The Darkness is curated by Justin Witte and will highlight the work of artists who pull from the notion of darkness, not only in its absence of light, but in its references to that which is invisible, unknowable or ignored. Participating artists include: Dana Carter, Joy Feasley, Roxane Hopper, Irena Knezevic, Michael Robinson and Craig Yu.
The exhibition at the Glass Curtain Gallery opens on January 24 and runs through March 2, 2011.
Gallery artist Paul Swenbeck and Nick Lenker present collaborative works at Bambi Gallery, Philadelphia. The exhibition, "Man, Myth, and Magic," runs from April 1 to 25.
Gallery artist, Paul Swenbeck, will be included in the ICA Philadelphia's show, 'Dirt on Delight: Impulses that Form Clay' opening January 16th and running through July 12, 2009. The show will present the work of twenty-three artists who have created significant work in clay. The artists in 'Dirt on Delight' run across the full spectrum of conventional delineations between fine arts, crafts and outsider practices. Eugene Von Bruenchenhein is also included in the exhibition.
