
Ena Swansea (b. 1966, Charlotte, North Carolina) is a New York-based painter whose oil and graphite work is lush with movement, darkness and light. Her evocative, atmospheric portraits, city scenes, and rural studies have long been associated with the cinema of dream. In her work, Swansea stills moving water, renders night skies by using light, and conjures the narrative complexities of culture and humanity—all of it a demonstrated, contemporary commitment to the history and traditions of painting. Swansea's paintings have been exhibited widely, including solo exhibitions at Ben Brown Fine Art in London and Hong Kong; Albertz Benda Gallery in New York; Sammlung Falckenberg in Hamburg, Germany; Locks Gallery in Philadephia; and 313 Gallery in Seoul. In 2001, she received the Hassam, Speicher, Betts and Symons Purchase Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Swansea's work is included in numerous public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Cornell University's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY; Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL; Galerie Neue Meister/Albertinum Dresden, Germany; and Deichtorhallen, Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg, Germany.
BORN
1966, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019
sea and snow, Gaa Gallery Provincetown, MA, USA
mental map: Central Park, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong
2018
New Paintings, Ben Brown Fine Arts, London, February 1 - April 12
2016
New Paintings, Albertz Benda Gallery, New York, USA
Marine Paintings, Gaa Gallery, Provincetown, MA, USA
2015
Self-inflicted Justice by Bad Shopping, Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg Germany
Sight unseen; Ellen Harvey and Ena Swansea, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2014
Untitled nightlife and sofa, Friedman Benda Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Salon art + design, solo presentation for Friedman Benda, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY, USA
2013
New paintings, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2012
New paintings, 313 Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2011
Psycho, 41 paintings from 2002 - 2011 in European collections, Deichtorhallen/Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg, Germany
December 18, 2011 - March 25, 2012studio show, organized by ARNDT Berlin, New York, NY, USA
2010
Armory Show, New York, solo booth, ARNDT Berlin, New York, NY, USA
Corrida Goyesque, temporary sand painting on the floor of the Arena d’Arles, France
2008
Ena Swansea paintings 2002 - 2008, Musée d’art moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg
New paintings, Arndt & Partner, Zurich
New paintings, Volta NY, solo statement, André Schlechtriem Contemporary, New York, NY, USA
2007
New paintings, André Schlechtriem temporary Inc., New York, NY, USA
2006
Armory Show, New York, solo booth, Galerie Crone/Andreas Osarek, New York, NY, USA
2005
New paintings, Galerie Crone/Andreas Osarek, Berlin
2004
Situation, Klemens Gasser & Tanja Grunert, Inc., New York, NY, USA
X rays, Mario Diacono Gallery at Ars Libri, Boston, MA, USA
2003
New paintings, Klemens Gasser & Tanja Grunert, Inc., New York, NY, USA
2002
The reality of shadows, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, USA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018
Against Forgetting I, Gaa Gallery, Provincetown, MA, USA
2016
The Grass Is Green, Gaa Gallery Cologne Project Space, Cologne, Germany
Group Exhibition, Gaa Gallery Cologne Project Space, Cologne, Germany
2015
Sight Unseen, Ellen Harvey and Ena Swansea, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2014
51st Anniversary exhibition, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Il Corpo Figurato, Artworks from the Collection 1966 - 2005, Maramotti Collection, Reggio Emilia, Italy
How six men got on in the world, Ruby Anemic, Carla Arocha, Stéphane Schraenen, Edgar Leciejewski, Rosa Loy, Andreas Mühe, Johannes Rochhausen and Ena Swansea, Auguststrasse 86, Berlin, Germany
Come like shadows, group show curated by David Cohen, Zürcher Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2013
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music, Freidman Benda Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2011
Printer's Proof, Bertrand Delacroix Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2010
Exquisite Corpse Project, curated by David Salle, Gasser & Grunert, New York, NY, USA
Changing the World, ARNDT, Berlin, Germany
2009
Water is Best, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Naked!, curated by Adrian Dannatt and Paul Kasmin, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY, USA
The beginning, 313 Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2008
True Romance - Allegories of Love from the Renaissance to the Present, Kunsthalle Vienna, Villa Struck, Munich and Kunsthalle, Kiel, Germany
2007
Symbolism, Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, Germany
2006
Idylle Traum und Trugschluß, curated by Oliver Zybok and Martje Schulz, Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg Germany
Figuring the landscape, curated by Barry A. Rosenberg, Contemporary Art Galleries, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
WoMA, André Schlechtriem Temporary Inc., New York, NY, USA
Zurück zur Figur. Malerei der Gegenwart., Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich Germany
New Work, Klemens Gasser & Tanja Grunert, Inc., New York, NY, USA
Big Paintings, Small Paintings, White Sculpture, The Cartin Collection, G-Fox building, Hartford, CT, USA
2005
Goetz meets Falckenberg, Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg Germany
Flower Power, Klemens Gasser & Tanja Grunert, Inc., New York NY, USA
Greater New York 2005, PS1 MoMA, Long Island City, NY, USA
Story-Tellers, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Slices of Life: Blueprints of the Self in Painting, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York, NY, USA
2004
Central Station: La Collection Harald Falckenberg, La Maison Rouge, Paris
Portraits, Esso Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2003
After Matisse/Picasso, PS1 MoMA, Long Island City, NY, USA
2001
The Tipping Point, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, USA
EDUCATION
University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
AWARDS
Hassam, Speicher, Betts and Symons Purchase Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2001
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Cornell University's Herbert F.
Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, New York
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL
Galerie Neue Meister/Albertinum Dresden, Germany
Deichtorhallen, Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg, Germany