Marilu Swett: Off Center

Marilu Swett’s solo exhibition Off Center features new sculpture and drawings acknowledging a time of dissonance. As Swett explains, “Rapid shifts in contemporary culture, communication and concern for the planet can create dissonance, a dissonance that increases as changes are more deeply felt. This can throw a person off center.”

In response to this state of off-centeredness, Swett has created a series of off-balance, often humorous abstract mixed media sculpture, using materials including plaster, wood, and foam. The wonderfully droopy, awkwardly lumpen, and sometimes prickly forms are both humble and proud, sporting titles like Pet Peeve, Vertigo, Snafu and Small Worry. A dramatic layered drawing surprises viewers as it cascades off the wall and glows greenish in the dark, while a tightly trussed form thick with paint impasto sits alone on a stool. Individual pieces reach to regain balance and a sense of composure.

Swett has exhibited throughout the United States, and has work in several corporate collections including Bank of America, Fidelity Investments, Meditech Corporation, and New England Biolabs. She is the recipient of a First Light award for the Town of Brookline, MA; a residency for iron casting at the Maryhill Art Museum in Washington state; a New England Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Sculpture; a Somerville Arts Council grant; and a Massachusetts Artists Foundation Studio Exchange grant. Swett has been an Associate Professor of Art at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA. A greater-Boston native, she lives and works in Jamaica Plain.

Marilu Swett: Off Center runs concurrently with Jessica Straus: Packing for Mars.

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