Walter Swennen, “At My Own Risk. Couldn’t Be Better”

Well respected in Europe, this Belgian painter’s reputation doesn’t quite have the same footprint in the United States, which may have something to do with the fact that he hasn’t shown here since 2002. Now nearing 70, Swennen was a poet before turning to art and there is something of poetry’s disassociate allusions in an absurdist mix of naive, cartoonish imagery and painterly flourishes that seems to take on serious topics like the human condition without being too serious about it.