It's rare we get an artist to come out of retirement for a Radio Juxtapoz podcast, but there we were in Aberdeen, Scotland this past weekend with the pioneering and legendary artist SWOON. She didn't retire per se; she retired from street art. The consuming nature of the art form she felt took her away from other creative outlets she wanted pursue, like installations, philanthropy, museum exhibitions, gallery work, collaboration and now, animation and film. But for Nuart Aberdeen, she got back in the game for a week for a series of wheat-pastes that felt so familiar, it was like seeing an old friend after years away. Perhaps it is the Caledonia in her name that got her inspired in Scotland? With a theme this year with the festival being the idea of "re-wilding," let's bring back an pillar of street art back to the ... streets.
SWOON isn't just a legend, she changed the way street art was looked at, how folk and craft elements could be applied to any medium. From the boats she floated down the Mississippi or into Venice, to her earliest days showing at Deitch, to philanthropic projects in New Orleans and Haiti and her Heliotrope Foundation, SWOON is about expansion. With her new and powerful work in animation and an upcoming film, it seemed like the perfect time to speak with one of the great artists of the Juxtapoz era.
The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 113 was recorded in June in Aberdeen, Scotland during Nuart Aberdeen . Follow us on @radiojuxtapoz
