To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

Guards at the Metropolitan Museum of Art have created a new arts magazine called SW!PE. They celebrated their launch this week at 25 CPW Gallery with an exhibit of their own work.

“We're here to celebrate the inaugural issue of Swipe Magazine, a magazine created by the guards, for the guards of the Met, and for the general public,” said magazine editor and former guard Jason Eskenazi. “It's a magazine conceived, I think, well for me, to make the invisible guards visible to the public – guards that you might see every day at the Met. And this is sort of to bring them out and show that they are artists, as well, and to show them to the public”.

Swipe refers to swiping a time clock at work. About 50 guards submitted work and 35 are featured in the new magazine, which included painting, poetry, photography and more.

“I just want people to get the message that there are some talented people, not just at the place that we were, but under your noses all over Manhattan,” said contributor Phil Padwe. “I mean, there's a sense that – it's a shame, it's almost been lost, but Manhattan used to be the place where artists came to carve their dreams and it's so expensive and it's so exclusive. I'd like people to realize that there are still some struggling artists who are trying as hard at they can in this city to make a difference.”

And while each of these artists has a unique aesthetic, all seem to agree that spending so much time around some of the greatest works in history has helped them.

“I'm actually proud to be guarding the most precious treasures of the world.,” said artist/guard Carlos Delgado. “And in the morning, like looking at a Van Gogh, looking at a Jackson Pollock, you know, it's inspirational and it's like, who really gets to sit at eight in the morning looking at a painting and looking forward to a nice day, you know? We mostly get inspired by all these artists, all the history behind the museum. The building itself has a lot of history. That's inspirational.”

Several of the guards sold works at the show. The premier issue of the magazine can be ordered online.

And there is some talk that these guards might just accomplish the near-impossible in the art world – show their work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

For more information, go to SwipeMagazine.com.