Swart was born in Durban in 1952. After matriculating from Queensborough High School in 1969, he enrolled at the Natal Technical College, Durban, where he obtained a Diploma in Health Inspection in 1972.
He worked as a Health Inspector until 1982 when, influenced by his father’s interest in carving, he enrolled at the Technikon Natal, where he studied sculpture for two years under Andries Botha and Jeremy Wafer.
In 1983 he co-founded the Community Arts Workshop in Durban where he taught until 1987. He has received two sculpture awards, and has carried out various sculpture commissions, mainly from churches in KZN; he has participated in major group exhibitions and has held a number of solo exhibitions, including one at the TAG. He is represented in the collection of that Gallery.