AS IS, 2009
Mixed media on paper
Richard Knight’s AS IS is a work on paper combining figurative and abstract elements. In the upper right-hand corner, Knight has inked an image of a branch. Starkly black and white, this image seems almost cartoonlike. Large brushstrokes of bright green cover much of the bottom of the canvas, where the words AS IS are scribbled in several colors. The center of the image is dominated by a black outline of a gloved hand, severed from a wrist or a limb.
In both his two-dimensional and three-dimensional works, Knight utilizes a variety of visual languages. He uses shapes, colors, techniques, and gestures to assemble references for the viewer. Enigmatic, magnetic, and colorful, his compositions build on the history of modern art in which visual cues reveal the nature of the art object. Knight’s works, however, are anything but strict formalism. Their attention to the everyday and their ability to nod to contemporary life ensure they are engaged with a contemporary dialogue.
