iRECOMMEND: TAGANYAHU SWAO's EXHIBIT closing party

Come join us at the LOTUS Temple of Visions Gallery (which will house my next solo show next month) for the closing of Taganyahu Swao's exhibition this Friday. We have some special features this time, Miralva, Taag's wife will be making food & Taag's animations will be showing. Don't miss it!

Taganyahu Swao (Taagen) was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and raised between the Caribbean, New York City, San Francisco and Long Island. His father, a Rastafarian painter and illustrator, inspired him at an early age to draw, paint and create Flip-animation using ink and graphite in the pages of soft-cover books. He studied Visual Arts at SUNY Purchase, with a concentration in Print-Making and Woodcuts. There Taagen also explored Stop-Motion Animation and film, making his first films on a Super-8 camera. In 1999 he built an animation stand with 2’ x 4’s and glass and began to paint on glass producing short animation films. He pioneered the use of animating with unorthodox mediums such as lentils, sand and dried seaweed.

Recurrent themes in Swao’s work include the centrality of the Sacred, the cross-cultural interplay between Jamaican Rastafari, Brazil Capoeira, and American Hip Hop, the resilience and vibrancy of the underclass, and the sometimes insoluble clash between technology, city-life and the natural world.

Check out Taag's profile page on the LOTUS gallery site and also make sure to visit his website for more of his work.