AMY STOCKLEIN
The Triangulador, Liubov Szwako, working on his preferred canvas. “Mattresses are the cheapest, biggest thing you can get.”
Liubov Szwako arrives by bicycle just after 10 p.m., his messenger bag full of cans of spray paint. The fluorescent lights from the nearby gas station on Williamson Street illuminate the curb where Szwako has located his canvas: a discarded full-sized mattress.
Szwako, a self-taught street artist and muralist who goes by the name “Triangulador,” is always on the lookout for things to paint. Tonight he passes up a blue mattress a block away — “too damp,” he says — in favor of the black-cloth covered bottom side of this mattress. He stands back to survey his find, then grabs a can of white paint, puts on headphones and gets to work.
Originally from Mexico City, Szwako moved to Madison 10 years ago as a 20-year-old after meeting a woman here online. The couple has since broken up, but Szwako says, “It’s a fun town. I decided to stick around.”
When he was younger, Szwako dreamed of being a graphic artist but didn’t get beyond high school. He’s worked in the service industry for 10 years, but three years ago took up painting on a whim.
“Nov. 11, 2019 will be my third anniversary of painting,” he says. Szwako does commissioned murals, including one at the Madison Circus Space, and works on traditional cloth canvas and paper. But so far, his unsanctioned street art has garnered the most attention.
He appreciates graffiti art, but does not paint walls without permission. “I believe in karma,” he says. “I don’t want to do anything to get in trouble.”
Instead he looks for large objects that have been discarded on streets for garbage pickup.
“Mattresses are the cheapest, biggest thing you can get,” says Szwako, who also paints discarded couches, chairs and other furniture.
What he is doing isn’t considered vandalism, but Szwako says people have called the police on him. “I am a brown person,” he says. “The cops show up sometimes but they know me, I gave them my card. They are cool — they know I’m just painting trash.”
Szwako has painted about 100 mattresses. He began last summer but “no one paid attention. I was doing them on Langdon Street near where I live and the rich college kids there are living in a different galaxy,” he says. When Szwako started painting bright colors and his signature triangle patterns on curb-side mattresses in the Willy neighborhood this summer, it was a different story.
“People started noticing them right away,” he says. “Some people appreciate it and some don’t and that’s okay.”
Szwako has learned to be more “easygoing,” through painting. In some cases, the garbage truck arrives minutes after he’s finished to cart his latest work off to the landfill. “Someone sent me the garbage pick-up schedule but I’m bad at organizing,” he says. “I don’t even know what day it is today.”
Today is Monday, an unseasonably warm late September night. A few bystanders have stopped to watch him work. One man, who notes that it’s his bed that Szwako is painting, watches for a few minutes, then walks away. A couple out for an evening stroll say they live across the street and love seeing Szwako’s work. The artist finishes his work by painting “Triangulador” down the side of the mattress. Afterwards, he shakes hands with some of the bystanders.
He hopes one day to paint on a much bigger canvas. “My goal is to paint the parking ramps downtown. To make a little more street art culture,” Szwako says. “Madison is a liberal town but there isn’t a lot of color.”
Time it takes Szwako to paint a mattress: 15 minutes
Paint cans he uses in a week: 8-10
Why Szwako prefers to paint mattresses during the day: “You can see the colors better.”
One of Szwako’s favorite street artists: Jason Revok. “But I don’t look at his work to be like him, I just like what he does,” Szwako says. “I think that’s essential for art, to be able to appreciate other artists and their abilities but still do your own thing without trying to imitate them.”
Instagram account: triangulador
