For the gallery’s annual exhibition at The Salon Art + Design, Friedman Benda is pleased to present a solo exhibition for American painter Ena Swansea.
Swansea’s signature technique, like the club experience itself, makes indistinguishable the line between protagonist and voyeur, while the works also slip between abstraction and representation. For this exhibition, Swansea further breaks down the barrier between real and imagined – she has designed sculptural sofas, entitled night and day reversible sofas. Conceived as a curving steel environment, it’s designed for day with serene white fur and for night, with fabric created by the artist. The sofa has a martini shelf that can be used for a cup of coffee in the morning, and a large hidden bookshelf that winds across the back making it an ideal environment for a party, meditation, or quiet study. The presence of Swansea’s sofa in the show adds a layer of surrealism and disbelief, as it posits new possibilities, and unfettered recreational scenarios.
