Louise Blyton
Swan to Swan
24.07.19 – 10.08.19

Beyond their renowned strength and protective tendencies, swans are universally deemed ethereal, symbols of transcendence, and a sign of completion in the alchemical tradition.

Earlier this year I was in NYC and met up with an old friend at the Guggenheim to see the Hilma of Klint retrospective ‘Paintings for the Future’.
I didn’t know much about her work but everyone in the city was talking about it.
It was crowded, I’d never seen the place so busy. As we approached the exhibition’s principal works ‘The Ten Largest’ I could understand why.
The scale and rich, highly individual language of these works is breathtaking.
Many of the other works left me rather cold until we fell upon ‘The Swan’ series.
My friend looked at me and said: “There you go, that’s your work.” They weren’t, of course, but the language was there.
A dialogue that has been with me for 30 years now: dualities, the union of opposites, light and dark, male and female, above and below.

The ‘Target’ works especially stuck with me throughout the following month’s stay in Paris and during this time I had the luxury to daydream about Hilma and her work. Hilma, a female artist from Stockholm creating these startling works in 1915. Me, a female artist from Melbourne following my own practice in 2019. Worlds away from each other spiritually, separated by over a century and yet still speaking a common language.
Her sophisticated visual intelligence was a starting point for this homage to her: A marriage of her Swan with my Swan.