About Adam Swanson

I am a painter and muralist fascinated by the way science fiction suggests a future for humanity transformed by major environmental changes and technological innovations. My invented landscapes ask viewers to consider unfamiliar places, such as the lines between true false, fiction and documentation, natural growth and urban development. I love color and texture. I paint wild animals, bright landscapes, and research equipment to create humorous tensions between humans and the rest of the natural world.

In the early 2000’s I worked in Antarctica for the National Science Foundation where I developed knowledge of important climate related experiments. Currently, I’m a member of the Twin Ports Art Science Collaborative and my work has been influenced by researchers and activists from the Lake Superior watershed and the SPRUCE climate change project in the Chippewa National Forest. Now, more than ever, the implications of human actions in a changing landscape are on the tip of everyone’s tongue. My recent paintings investigate scientific ideas and, most importantly, inspire audiences to learn what can be done to make positive changes.

My work has been exhibited at: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Visual Arts Center in Cambridge, MA; The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN; The Herbert Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY; The South Pole Station in Antarctica; St. Paul City Hall, St. Paul, MN; Växjö Konsthall (Museum of Modern Art) in Växjö, Sweden; ASROPA, Seoul, Korea; Karatay University in Konya, Turkey.

I’ve studied many of the modernist artists, especially the urban and bucolic landscapes by the Barbizon School painters and Jean-François Millet’s heroic peasant farmers. I’m also inspired by contemporary painters such as Alexis Rockman and Chris Austin whose imagery expands the conversation about important ecological issues. I’ve always had a strong interest in photography and exploration, so the compositions of my paintings are based on photographs and experience. My studio is filled with my snapshots of landscapes, machinery, and animals. I select, recompose, and paint the most interesting details so that my paintings are often comprised of a wide variety of study images and imagined recollections.