Exhibition
Seth Chwast: Icons of Cayman, was a National Gallery of the Cayman Islands solo exhibition of the self-taught, intuitive American artist, Seth Chwast. Inspired by the marine and terrestrial landscapes of Cayman, the paintings in Chwast’s exhibition reflected a world of sensation and colour informed by the artist’s personal experience of living with autism.
Portraying a world inhabited by colourful tropical fish, birds and creatures of the deep, Chwast’s images reflected the artist’s moving and powerful vision of his world captured through paint, conveying his contagious sense of joy, in spite of the limitations of his condition. Chwast began his painting practice at the age of 20, when he was introduced to painting with oils during a class at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2003. In the years since, he has exhibited internationally and has work residing in public and private collections around the world. Icons of Cayman offered audiences an insight into the artist’s unique life, while serving as a reminder of the power of creativity to overcome the most challenging odds.
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About the Artist
Seth Chwast
b. 1983
Seth Chwast is an American artist who was diagnosed with autism as a very young child. At the age of 20 he took an oil painting class at the Cleveland Museum of Art which changed his life. Seth, who rarely speaks, began describing his world in paint. He discovered an innate ability to mix colours and create stunning works of art that reflect his vision of his world around him. He was quite isolated and began painting horses, auroras, whales, and self-studies in his home. To help explain Chwast and his art, his mother Debra produced an eight-minute documentary titled A Different Kind of Journey, which was accepted into the Ohio Independent Film Festival in November 2004. After this video, the artist was featured on The Today Show in 2007, and again on New Year’s Day in 2008 as their most inspirational story of the year.
In 2007, the artist travelled to Costa Rica, where his art exploded with the colours of the tropics. Later that year, Chwast also travelled to the Galapagos, where he scheduled his first international exhibition that opened in 2008, followed by an exhibition at the John Madjeski Gallery. Filled with confidence and excitement, he travelled to the Cayman Islands, where he planned the exhibition Seth Chwast – Icons of Cayman at the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands.
Chwast has exhibited in hospitals, museums, and universities across America, as well as the Galapagos, Curacao, Kiev, the Cayman Islands, the United Nations, and throughout Europe. In 2011, Seth came in first place in a world-wide United Nations competition and his art was placed on a postal stamp to promote autism awareness. In 2015, Seth had his first European exhibition in France and in 2017 he was a featured artist at the London Art Biennale, where he earned the European Confederation of Art Critics Award.
