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Rob Swainston

Associate Professor of Printmaking

Rob Swainston was born in rural Pennsylvania and currently lives and works in New York City. He is an Associate Professor of Printmaking at Purchase College and co-founder and Master Printer for collaborative fine art printshop Prints of Darkness. In 2020-21 Rob was a Guest Professor in Printmaking at the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin. Rob’s work sits at the intersection of printmaking, painting, sculpture, and installation and is informed by a duel academic background in Political Science and Fine Art. Rob has been awarded numerous residencies including Skowhegan, Marie Walsh Sharpe, and the Fine Arts Work Center. Solo and group exhibitions include Marginal Utility, David Krut Projects, Bravin Lee Programs, Socrates Sculpture Park, Smack Mellon, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Print Center of New York, Canada Gallery, Queens Museum, and the Bronx Museum. Rob’s recent project, Doomscrolling, a collaboration with Zorawar Sidhu, had a solo show at Petzel Gallery, NYC, in 2022. Collectively, Sidhu and Swainston explore the intersection of historical print processes with contemporary technologies. Their projects investigate the complexities of contemporary social issues, drawing from the history of print as the medium par excellence of social movements. Works from Doomscrolling has been included in group exhibitions at Princeton Museum and Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington. The project has entered significant public and private collections including MoMA, National Gallery D.C., MFA Houston, Staateliche Museen zu Berlin, the Hall Foundation, and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation.

Swainston began teaching in the printmaking program at Purchase College during 2012–13 as a part-time lecturer and in 2013–14 as a visiting assistant professor. He has been a visiting artist/critic at numerous institutions, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, SUNY New Paltz, Illinois State University, Southern Illinois University, College of St. Rose, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, California State University at Long Beach, Mason Gross School of Art at Rutgers University, and Columbia University.  Rob is the Ludwig Foundation Professor for Printmaking at Weissensee Kunsthochschule Berlin for 2020-21.