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Supporting artists since 1973
Supporting artists since 1973
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For the months of January and February, the Urban Video Project, Light Work, and the Everson Museum of Art are pleased to present two videos,DELUGE (2010) and ANIMA (2011), by animator and video artist, John Knecht.
According to Knecht, "Things have been falling in my videos for decades. It was at first formal. Falling things filled the frame and made a complicated cinematic space. The things falling--wishbones, test tubes, martini glasses, plastic strawberries that looked like a human heart, cement blocks and infected molars--increasingly became an atmosphere, functioning both as a formal device and a metaphorical space."
Knecht's video DELUGE is directly informed by a Leonardo daVinco drawing called A Cloudburst of Material Possessions that hangs in Buckingham Palace. It depicts a deluge of raining everyday objects: rakes, funnels, lamps and general debris. It is graphite on paper, dated 1500, and torn in half so only a part of the drawing remains. Knecht has struggled to learn more about the piece and there is virtually nothing written about it.
Knecht's work is hand drawn, first with pencil on paper and then in Photoshop, focused on his admiration for the essential. DELUGE and ANIMA are made frame by frame, reflecting the artist's love of painting and the ability of the motion picture to sneak up on you. Knecht provides, in his words, "a modernist outlook at a post modern apocalypse."
About the Artist
John Knecht has actively exhibited, taught, and programmed video art nationally and internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include, Fragments from the Wheels of Ezekiel at Clifford Gallery, Colgate University (2011); First Person Cinema at University of Colorado (2010); as well as participation in many group shows and festivals, including Artists of the Hudson Mohawk Region at Albany Institute of Arts and Science (2011);
Made in New York at the Schweinfurth Art Museum, Auburn, NY (2011); Stone Canoe, XL Projects Gallery, Syracuse, NY (2011); and UPPER touring with the Black Maria Film Festival in Spring 2009. Knecht holds an endowed Chair at Colgate as the Russell Colgate Distinguished University Professor of Art and Art History and Film and Media Studies, where he has taught since 1981.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Urban Video Project (UVP) is a multimedia public art initiative of Light Work and Syracuse University that operates several electronic exhibition sites along the Connective Corridor in Syracuse, NY. The mission of UVP is to present exhibitions and projects that celebrate the arts and culture of Syracuse and engage artists and the creative community around the world. Light Work and UVP work closely with collaborative partner Everson Museum of Art in determining exhibitions and programming for that site.
Light Work is a nonprofit, artist-run organization dedicated to the support of artists working in photography and electronic media. Light Work and UVP are members of CMAC, the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University.
For more information visit www.urbanvideoproject.com.
For more information about any of these videos, please contact Jessica Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.
