Published: Aug. 17, 2017

Joel Swanson in a white T-shirt sits behind his desk covered with art supplies.ATLAS Assistant Professor Joel Swanson’s newest solo art exhibitionSticks & Stonesis an exploration of the divisive language dominating contemporary political discourse. Rendering decontextualized words and phrases inphotos, neon sculptures, mixed media works and animations, Swanson makes provocative and surprising art from language that is so often used to classify and marginalize.

The show, which opens Friday, Aug.18, at Denver’s, runs through Sept. 16. One image features an impression of a found soda cup lid with various labeled buttons used to indicate what’s inside, such as “cola,” “diet” and “other.” In Swanson’s image, the “other” button is indented.

“I’m interested in how we mark otherness in society,” Swanson said of his unnamed piece. “It’s just a soda lid, but it makes me think of the ways that otherness is constructed and how certain people and identities are marginalized.”

Swanson’s art has appearedat venues such as the Broad Museum in Lansing, The Power Plant in Toronto, the North Miami Museum of Contemporary Art andDenver’s Museum of Contemporary Art, where he held a solo exhibition. His work is currently part ofPersonal Structures, an official satellite show of Italy’s world-renowned Venice Biennale 2017.

A busy year for Swanson, his next solo showMarginaliais an exploration of linguistic interfaces such as books, paper and computer screens. It opens Dec. 8 at the Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder. And he will be showingZapf Dingbats Revolved Around Their Y Axisas part of the ýĻƷat the CU Art Museum, running Aug. 17 to Dec. 23.

Swanson’s commissioned work is found throughout Denver, includinga wall-sized installation at the Halcyon Hotel in Cherry Creek; a work in Twitter’s corporate office; and a collection of works at the newin Denver, including various smaller works in guest rooms and suites, four larger works and a 30-foot, backlit, laser-cut aluminum wall at the entryway.All the Born Hotel’s artwork was commissioned from local artists and curated by Adam Lerner of the.

At ýĻƷ, Swanson teaches courses on digital art, typography and media theory through the ATLAS Institute. He received his Master of Fine Arts from the University of California San Diego, where his focus was computing and the arts. He earned hisBachelor of Fine Arts in digital art from ýĻƷ.

In all his work, Swanson explores the structures and technologies of language, and his work ranges from digital art and sculpture to interactive installations that playfully and powerfully merge words with meanings.

Watch a short video about Swanson's installation at the Hotel Born