Alec Von Bargen

"While at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel I developed 12 multimedia portraits of marginalized women. I was given the time and space to focus solely on my practice, something which is usually impossible. The entire process of creating the 12 site-specific portraits was documented in a book published in Italy and the work has since traveled to galleries and museums worldwide. The trace I left for the Swatch Art Peace Hotel Collection is titled ‘Sara’s Song.’ It is the portrait of a woman taken in Portugal. The depth of her melancholic gaze and her distant thoughts brought visions of the tragic poet Sara Teasdale, the first winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry." (Alec Von Bargen)

"I was extremely fortunate to have been included in the Swatch Faces exhibition at the Venice Biennale and also to have had a solo show in the exhibition space at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai. What an amazing opportunity. I created the show from scratch in order to present something unique to the personal dialogue that has developed between myself and Swatch. The final show was titled ‘Split’ and fortunately was received with a huge embrace by both critics and the attending audience. I still receive messages/emails from artists/collectors and curious art lovers worldwide who always ask about that show and about my relationship with Swatch." (Alec Von Bargen)