Paul Knight
Paul Knight’s work looks at the nature of relationships and bonding between people. One of the most contained and heightened relationship structures in society is that of the couple. A major part of the language of bonding is sexual. At the centre of this work is the issue of intimacy and the complex potential for glory and complication that intimacy is filled with.
There is an underlying expectation for people to be as strong as the buildings that house them. The presumption being, that we are able to be totally independent. Yet in the cities where we live, our existence is anything but. The city can seemingly offer through its display of structural brilliance a false sense of security, but this can be easily disrupted. How do environmental and emotional narratives play out in the intimate seclusion offered by the structure of the couple?
"All the photographs have been shot and executed in the same way, the frame of view is purposely fixed, the scale and technical elements involved in photographing each of the couples is always the same. Conceptually, they all share the same starting point for the description of their intimate language. The situations photographed are documents of real intimacy, by fixing the frame and by replicating the lighting, ect from shoot to shoot I intend to allow a sense of ownership of the display of the action to reside with the subjects themselves."
Paul Knight is currently studying a Master of Fine Art at the Glasgow School of Art on the prestigious Anne and Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship from Australia. Knight was born in Australia in 1976 and completed a Bachelor of fine Art (Hons) at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne in 2001. In 2002 he was awarded a two -residency at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, Australia. While his practice is primarily photographic Paul also works with installations, which combine sculpture, sound and video. Since 2001, he has held several solo exhibitions, including Host, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia (2007); Don’t be something strong, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Australia (2006); Paul Knight, Third Gallery Aya, Osaka, Japan (2006); Photographs, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Australia and Andrea Brenner Galerie, Dusseldorf, Germany (2005); like a leaf clings to a tree, oh my darling cling to me… Gertrude Contemporary Arts Spaces, Melbourne, Australia (2004); and Photographs, Centre for Photography, Melbourne, Australia (2004). His work has also been included in a range of curated exhibitions including, Show Me Your World, Gitte Weise Gallery, Berlin (2008); NEW 08, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2008); Perfect for every occasion, Australian photography today, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne (2007); Strange beauty, Chelsea Museum of Art, New York and Palazzo delle Arti, Naples (2007); and Don't show me your poetry: Octopus 7, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne (2007). Later this year Knight's work will be shown in both the Primavera and Recent Acquisitions exhibitions at the Museum for Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia.
Paul Knight is represented by Neon Parc Gallery, Melbourne.