HEATHER B. SWANN
An unmade bed
18 March – 22 April 2023

STATION | SYDNEY

An unmade bed showcases Heather B. Swann's celebrated, expressive drawing practice. Many of the works in the exhibition explore the perennially interesting subject of intimate human relationships: attractions and excitements, awkward pauses and passionate declarations, unmade beds and unmade bodies. Other bodies described in the show are caught in the rhythms and routines of physical work, while Swann's metaphor of the unmade bed also extends to a group of works declaring the precarity of the natural environment. All of the drawings display Swann’s characteristic visual wit, surrealist subversion and formal grace.

The exhibition sees the artist working on two very different supports: light, almost translucent Japanese papers, and heavy (640 gsm) milled French sheets. Pinned to the wall, crumpled into mosaics of light and shade, and wafting in each passing breeze, the Japanese drawings are raw, scratchy, needle-sharp. The framed European drawings are broad-brushed, wetter, wristier.

 

Installation Views

Artworks

Heather B. Swann
You and me, an unmade bed 2022
ink on paper, crumpled
129.0 × 97.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Messrs Rabbit 2023
ink on paper
ink on paper, crumpled

Heather B. Swann
A place to lie your head. In a history 2022
ink on paper
55.0 × 131.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
I am beginning to think we are beginning 2022
ink on paper
55.0 × 131.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
I want you 2022
ink and oil on paper
65.5 × 50.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Lover 2022
ink on paper
58.7 × 77.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
So tired. Go to bed 2022
ink and synthetic polymer paint on paper
57.0 × 77.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Man waiting 2018
ink on paper
42.0 × 59.5 cm

Heather B. Swann
Hook 2018
ink on paper
42.0 × 59.5 cm

Heather B. Swann
YES 2022
ink on paper
57.0 × 76.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Shade 2022
ink on paper
57.0 × 76.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
So tired 2022
ink and synthetic polymer paint on paper
57.5 × 77.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Reclining nude 3 2022
ink and wash on paper
88.0 × 118.0 cm framed

Heather B. Swann
Reclining nude 2 2023
ink and wash on paper
88.0 × 118.0 cm framed

Heather B. Swann
Reclining nude 1 2022
ink and wash on paper
88.0 × 118.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
10 balls. Get some 2023
ink on paper
88.0 × 118.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Go there 2022
ink on paper
42.0 × 59.5 cm

Heather B. Swann
Your nervous system 2018
ink on paper
42.0 × 59.5 cm

Heather B. Swann
Yeah. Feeling a bit sick 2023
ink on paper, crumpled
80.0 × 54.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Too hot 2023
ink on paper, crumpled
82.0 × 55.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Too hot (dark) 2023
ink on paper, crumpled
76.0 × 50.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
The green man. Not feeling so well 2023
ink on paper, crumpled
80.0 × 54.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Sick 2023
ink on paper, crumpled
81.0 × 56.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Not feeling so good 2023
ink on paper, crumpled
82.0 × 56.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Hot 2023
ink on paper, crumpled
81.0 × 55.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Hydra 2023
ink on paper, crumpled
62.0 × 90.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Stay with me darling 2022
ink on paper, crumpled
82.0 × 162.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Nervous system (two figures) 2021
ink on paper, crumpled
59.0 × 84.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Nervous system (four figures) 2021
ink on paper, crumpled
57.0 × 83.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
Man Stick and the Knuckle Man 2021
ink on paper, crumpled
58.0 × 84.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
The man works 2018
ink on paper, crumpled
58.0 × 84.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
The body working 2018
ink on paper, crumpled
59.0 × 85.0 cm

Heather B. Swann
An unmade bed 2018
ink on paper, crumpled
59.0 × 85.0 cm