Johnny Swing

R & Company represents the iconic coin works of Johnny Swing. Celebrated as a notable member of the American Studio Furniture movement, Swing’s furniture has been exhibited in museums and institutions around the world. Considered a master welder, Swing designs each work by carving the form into Styrofoam, then casting a negative mold in concrete to form the template for the coin surface. Each piece of furniture is handmade and consists of thousands of welds. His innovative approach successfully transforms American currency into biomorphic and natural forms that transcend their material.

Johnny Swing was born in 1961 in Salisbury, Connecticut. In 1984, he completed his BS in fine arts from Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine in 1986. He obtained his Class 1 Structural Steel Welding License #6120 in 1990. After spending the first part of his career in New York City’s Lower East Side, where he exhibited sculptures and furniture made with salvaged industrial materials, Swing moved to Vermont in 1995, where he maintains a workshop and farm.

Swing’s coin furniture can be found in the permanent collections of notable institutions around the world, including the Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, New York; Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, England; and the Modernism Museum, Mount Dora, Florida. His work has also been on view in numerous museum exhibitions, including most recently the Indianapolis Museum of Art; LongHouse Reserve, East Hampton; and the Museum of Arts and Design, New York.

Image: Kimberly M. Wang / Ear Dog Productions