Statement
Christopher Knowles’s incredibly diverse practice, which includes writing, painting, sculpture, and performance, exhibits a fascination with the aural and visual elements of language. Born in Brooklyn in 1959, Knowles became widely known in the theatrical community as an early collaborator of Robert Wilson. While still a young teenager, Knowles provided the libretto for Robert Wilson and Philip Glass’s 1976 genre-changing opera Einstein on the Beach. He has received a diagnosis which includes impaired vision and is often referred to as autism.
First exhibited as a solo artist in 1974, Knowles has continued to cultivate a prolific practice; His two and three-dimensional works – in particular the historical body of “typings” - are exhibited widely and held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, NY, the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, and numerous other international institutions and private collections.
Most recently in 2013, Knowles has presented solo presentations of his paintings as well as a new performance. In January 2013, Knowles’ painting exhibition at Gavin Brown’s enterprise, featured an evening of live-reading and audio-listening of his poems. The exhibition was met with critical acclaim in The New Yorker, and TimeOut New York, among other publications. In November 2013, Knowles was at the center of a new performance, developed at The Watermill Center, entitled “The Sundance Kid is Beautiful”. This theatrical production see Knowles performing multiple actions in different time and scale registers in concert with more than a dozen short texts, including the eponymous “The Sundance Kid is Beautiful”. This work is presented in a staged environment that incorporates his work as a visual and sound artist. “The Sundance Kid Is Beautiful” premiered in Europe at the Louvre Museum, Paris as part of Robert Wilsons’ Living Rooms, and in New York as part of PERFORMA13 program.
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Guys Playing Football
2011
archival marker on canvas
18 x 24 inches
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Woman Sitting By the Pool
2011
archival marker on canvas
24 x 18 inches
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Untitled
2012
archival marker on canvas
24 x 18 inches
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Untitled
2012
archival marker on canvas
18 x 24 inches
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Untitled
2012
archival marker on canvas
18 x 24 inches
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Untitled
2012
archival marker on canvas
24 x 18 inches
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Untitled
2012
archival marker on canvas
24 x 18 inches
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The Sundance Kid is Beautiful
2013
Performance
Exhibition at the Louvre
November 2013
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