Pauline Eiferman
The guards at the Metropolitan Museum of Art have done it again. Yesterday they released the second issue of SW!PE, their celebrated art magazine launched last year. With 127 pages of drawings, paintings, comics, prints, poetry and photography, the 45 often-unnoticed workers are once more getting some cherished exposure in the art world.
“It’s ironic, really,” says Peter Hoffmeister, one of the editors. “As guards, we spend the most time with the artwork. Even more than curators do. But we are at the bottom of the food chain.”
Hoffmeister, 25, graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2007, where he studied painting. He started working night shifts at the Met a year later, when he realized his art wouldn’t be enough to support him financially. And he wasn’t alone. As it turns out, many of the guards are recent art school graduates who dream of one day seeing their own artwork on the walls they stare at during the day.
“Working at the museum is ideal,” says Hoffmeister. “We form a little art community of our own here, and we go to each other’s exhibitions, and studios.”
The community grew under the radar until Jason Eskenazi, a photographer who worked at the Met for 20 months, had the idea for the magazine. The first issue, called “Guards Matter,” was released in March of last year. Since then, museum guards from all over the country and the world have been in contact with the editors, looking for ways to collaborate.
“People were surprised we could pull something like this off,” says Hoffmeister, adding that his colleagues have gained confidence since. “They walk with their heads a little higher now,” he says.
Just like the first issue, Volume Two only includes artwork from Met guards. But the editors are ambitious. Guards from other museums, like the Guggenheim, Whitney, and the MoMA, will be included in issue number three. And for the fourth issue, they want go nationwide.
After all, said Hoffmeister, the best part of making the magazine is discovering the talent of others. “You never know what’s hiding inside of people. Even people I know. But when you start seeing their ideas and their work, you realize how great it is to be working with such people.”
