Art for When You Know, You Know
A video conversation with Jane Swavely and your painting's journey from studio to museum
Good morning! Today I am THRILLED to share with you my first Tea episode where I brought my great-aunt’s Viennese teapot and sat down with the artist Jane Swavely in her current exhibition at Magenta Plains.
We cover her four-plus decades of painting on the Bowery, how secret paw prints and Prada boot prints find their way onto some works, and that inexplicable moment when it all comes together and finally clicks.
I first discovered Jane’s work four years ago after my dear friend Olivia Smith suggested I visit a small group exhibition tucked away in a Tribeca arts building. It was one of those freezing winter dark afternoons when most rational people stay home. Fortunately for readers of this newsletter, I have never been accused of being rational when it comes to discovering contemporary art.
I have witnessed Jane's career blossom, through museum exhibitions, institutional recognition, and solo presentations at some of the most respected galleries in the country. I personally collect her work, and I have placed a number of her paintings with clients over the years.
One of those clients first discovered Jane right here in this newsletter, later acquired a larger work, and that painting is now on loan in a museum show at the Currier Museum of Art (!!!).
A painting hanging in a museum does not begin its life in a museum: it begins in an artist's studio, then in a gallery, then in someone's home. And sometimes, years later, it finds its way into a museum exhibition.
I share this because you do not have to be an ARTnews Top 200 Collector for your purchases to mean something. I think people often underestimate how connected they already are to our generation’s cultural canon. It is actually quite within reach when you know where to look, and that is exactly why this newsletter exists.
Jane’s exhibition Strawberry Fields is on view at Magenta Plains through June 20. Below are some available works, and further reading can be found in recent reviews from The Brooklyn Rail and Whitehot Magazine.
Enjoy the video, enjoy the articles, and most of all, enjoy looking closely at art. Trust me, you’ll know when you lay eyes on the art you cannot live without.
Jane Swavely
Strawberry Fields, 2026
Oil on canvas
Diptych, overall: 90 x 90 inches
Each: 90 x 45 inches
$36,000
Jane Swavely
Not Yet Titled, 2026
Oil on canvas
72 x 66 inches
$28,000
Jane Swavely
Untitled, 2026
Soft pastel on Bugra
43 x 34 inches
$8,000
Jane Swavely
Untitled, 2026
Soft pastel on Bugra
17 x 10 1/2 inches each
$2,500 each
Jane Swavely
Not Yet Titled, 2026
Oil on canvas
52 x 35 inches
$18,000
Jane Swavely
Not Yet Titled, 2026
Oil on canvas
56 x 54 inches
$22,000
Jane Swavely
Untitled, 2026
Oil on canvas
38 x 25 inches
$12,000
Jane Swavely
Untitled, 2026
Soft pastel on Bugra
Unframed: 43 x 34 inches each
Framed: 44 1/2 x 36 inches each
$8,000 each
Jane Swavely
Untitled, 2026
Soft pastel on Bugra
43 x 34 inches
$8,000
Jane Swavely
Silver Screen, 2026
Oil on canvas
66 x 72 inches
$28,000
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