Kayleigh Swenson

Four canvases came out of one archive folder, and not one of them was planned as part of a set.

Who is Kayleigh Swenson?

Kayleigh Swenson works as Viking Barbie, an American model, rapper and digital creator known for her tattoo work.

She has been on the cover of Playboy twice, appearing in the South African edition in January 2018 and the Swedish edition that April. Alongside modelling she releases music and has collaborated with artists including Crooked I, and she runs her own clothing line under the Viking Barbie name.

This summary is put together from publicly available sources and has not been checked with her. If something here is wrong or she would rather it were not here, write to the studio and it is corrected or removed.

Painting Kayleigh Swenson in the studio

The first thing I saw was a face that photographs as arrogant. That reading belongs to the photograph, not to her, and Kayleigh (Tattoos) is the canvas where I caught the joke underneath it instead of the armour. I did not decide to. It happened somewhere in the second week and I only noticed afterwards.

Kayleigh (Smile) came apart while I was making it. Somewhere in the middle of it the paint stops describing anything and simply becomes paint. It is the loosest thing I have made, and I did not aim for it, because I never aim for anything.

Kayleigh (Green Straps) is yellow across the whole canvas because I wanted it yellow. There is no reason beyond that and I am not going to invent one.

Kayleigh and Emily (Girls) is the odd one out: two figures, and a vantage point you would not have chosen to stand in. That displacement is the entire reason it exists.

Painting the same subject four times shows you things a single canvas cannot. In three of the four her mouth is open. I did not choose that either. It is simply what she does, and four canvases is how I found out.

Each image was saved without deciding anything, left alone for months, then painted days at a time with long gaps between them. Each stopped when I was finished with it, which is not the same thing as the canvas being finished.

Kayleigh Swenson paintings: what exists

There are four original paintings of Kayleigh Swenson, oil on stretched canvas and oil on canvas, from 100 × 80 cm to 120 × 90 cm. Each is a one of one: signed, with a certificate of authenticity, and none of them will be painted again. Two of them are also available as hand-signed prints in editions capped at 50, printed once and never reprinted.

What is still available, and at what price, is on the cards below.