PAINTING EXHIBITIONS > Smell The Magic 2014

Smell The Magic
Solo Exhibtion at Spinello Projects Miami, December 2014

Gentle, almost delicate portraits of young men are a parade of characters that Knight continuously inhabits in metaphor; physical manifestations of the full array of the artist's internal psychological tones. They are secretive, veiled faces that do not directly address the viewer; rather, they are in quiet repose filled with restlessness. Knight draws both technical and contextual elements from the Late Baroque and Rococo movements embodied by artists such as Poussin, Fragonard, and especially portraitists such as Reynolds, Gainsborough, and Vigée-Le Brun. His portraits of fragile youths are charged with sexual tension, completely self-aware, but fiercely guarded.

Knight exerts a firm command over painting, drawing, and drafting methodologies in his paintings, and capably carries his subjects from the past into the present. He addresses the future by proposing new models of masculinity and gender identity: boys can be dreamers, they can be cast under gentle lights and colors, they can wear makeup and be considered both male and beautiful simultaneously. He creates, in effect, avatars of himself: a highly ornate cloak masking his inner self.

"I've Been Looking For My Shadow"
Oil on prepared cotton paper
20x16"
2014
"Speak For Me"
oil on canvas
60x48"
2014
"Shades of Red"
Oil on Canvas
60x40"
2014
"Wicked Shade"
Oil on Canvas
60x40"
2014
"The Flying Monkey"
Oil on Canvas
24x18"
2014
"Diamond Eyes"
Oil on Canvas
24x18"
2014
"Planchette"
Oil on Canvas
24x18"
2014
"Night Bloomer"
Oil on Canvas
24x18"
2014
"Bougainvillea Goth"
Oil on prepared cotton paper
20x16"
2014
"Leather"
Oil on prepared cotton paper
20x16"
2014
"Wilted Floral"
Oil on prepared cotton paper
20x16"
2014
"Peppermint Man"
Oil on prepared cotton paper
20x16"
2014