"Curiosities From the Anthropocene"
New Exhibit by John Knecht
4 Elements Studio Satellite Location - 131 Genesee Street, Utica, NY
"Curiosities From the Anthropocene" began as a series of colored pencil drawings of souvenirs from the future. Some of these drawings were animated and included in a motion picture of the same name. The four animations here are from that video.
I was thinking about the 18 th Century “cabinet of curiosities” which were sophisticated, cultural depositories, indexing the imperialist occupation of the “other”. I am taking the viewer to a future, post-apocalyptic space where songs of destruction are mixed with contaminated eroticism in the ruins. These are not necessarily friendly cartoons.
I have been interested in the dialectic that is formed by the collision of horror and humor for many years. I think that this all started with my rural, Mid-West childhood going to school in the church basement; learning nothing of science or math but becoming forever fascinated by the supernatural events of flying wheels of fire in the desert sky, pillars of salt and talking snakes. Think of my work as a roadside attraction. Or a side show where stoned roadiesgot the parts to the Fun House and the House of Horror mixed up and assembled them in a new way for the weekend event at the fairground, half Fun House and half House of Horrors.
Just when you think…
I was thinking about the 18 th Century “cabinet of curiosities” which were sophisticated, cultural depositories, indexing the imperialist occupation of the “other”. I am taking the viewer to a future, post-apocalyptic space where songs of destruction are mixed with contaminated eroticism in the ruins. These are not necessarily friendly cartoons.
I have been interested in the dialectic that is formed by the collision of horror and humor for many years. I think that this all started with my rural, Mid-West childhood going to school in the church basement; learning nothing of science or math but becoming forever fascinated by the supernatural events of flying wheels of fire in the desert sky, pillars of salt and talking snakes. Think of my work as a roadside attraction. Or a side show where stoned roadiesgot the parts to the Fun House and the House of Horror mixed up and assembled them in a new way for the weekend event at the fairground, half Fun House and half House of Horrors.
Just when you think…
BIO
John Knecht has been a practicing film and video artist since 1973. His films, videos and multiple channel installations have been shown widely. Knecht’s video “The Possible Fog of Heaven, 1993, was featured in an article by Cory Archangel in the May, 2023 issue of Artforum, His most recent animation, “Curiosities From the Anthropocene”, 2020 was slelected for the 2021 Athens International Film and Video Festival and the 2021 RPM Festival. It was screened in March 2022 in San Francisco at the Other Cinema. His 2010 animation “Deluge” was included in the 2021 “Straight Through the Wall” series in New York, which projected videos on various buildings around Manhattan and Brooklyn. Most recent solo exhibitions: John Knecht and Russel Scott Day at Alexander Heath Contemporary, Roanoke, Virginia, March 2024; “aftermath”, Alexander/Heath Contemporary, Website , 2017; “Animating Destiny: Electric Paintings and Other
Works”, at the Esther Massry Gallery of the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY. 2016, Website . Other recent exhibitions include “Considering the Probability of Divine Intervention”, a five channel video installation at the Llewellyn Gallery at Alfred State College; “Fragments from the Wheels of Ezekiel”, a fifteen channel installation at the Everson Museum; four animation panels from that series were purchased by the Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute, in Utica, NY, for its permanent collection. 205 Hudson Street Gallery, NYC, “A History of the Experimental Television Center”; Westbeth Gallery, NYC “Triacontagon: 30 Years of the Artists Fellowship Program at NYFA; The “Urban Video Project”, an undertaking of, Syracuse University, Light Works Gallery and the Everson Museum; One Person Screening at Union Docs. “First Person Cinema” series, University of Colorado, Boulder; “Making Movies”, Schweinfurth Art Museum; The @ LAB, Ohio Univeristy; The Tou Scene Contemporary Art Center in Stavanger, Norway, the Vienna Film Festival, Bard College, the Mix Festival, NYC.
John Knecht holds the Russell Colgate Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History and Film and Media Studies Chair, Emeritus at Colgate University.
Knecht lives and Works in Hubbardsville, New York.
Visit John Knecht's website below.
John Knecht has been a practicing film and video artist since 1973. His films, videos and multiple channel installations have been shown widely. Knecht’s video “The Possible Fog of Heaven, 1993, was featured in an article by Cory Archangel in the May, 2023 issue of Artforum, His most recent animation, “Curiosities From the Anthropocene”, 2020 was slelected for the 2021 Athens International Film and Video Festival and the 2021 RPM Festival. It was screened in March 2022 in San Francisco at the Other Cinema. His 2010 animation “Deluge” was included in the 2021 “Straight Through the Wall” series in New York, which projected videos on various buildings around Manhattan and Brooklyn. Most recent solo exhibitions: John Knecht and Russel Scott Day at Alexander Heath Contemporary, Roanoke, Virginia, March 2024; “aftermath”, Alexander/Heath Contemporary, Website , 2017; “Animating Destiny: Electric Paintings and Other
Works”, at the Esther Massry Gallery of the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY. 2016, Website . Other recent exhibitions include “Considering the Probability of Divine Intervention”, a five channel video installation at the Llewellyn Gallery at Alfred State College; “Fragments from the Wheels of Ezekiel”, a fifteen channel installation at the Everson Museum; four animation panels from that series were purchased by the Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute, in Utica, NY, for its permanent collection. 205 Hudson Street Gallery, NYC, “A History of the Experimental Television Center”; Westbeth Gallery, NYC “Triacontagon: 30 Years of the Artists Fellowship Program at NYFA; The “Urban Video Project”, an undertaking of, Syracuse University, Light Works Gallery and the Everson Museum; One Person Screening at Union Docs. “First Person Cinema” series, University of Colorado, Boulder; “Making Movies”, Schweinfurth Art Museum; The @ LAB, Ohio Univeristy; The Tou Scene Contemporary Art Center in Stavanger, Norway, the Vienna Film Festival, Bard College, the Mix Festival, NYC.
John Knecht holds the Russell Colgate Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History and Film and Media Studies Chair, Emeritus at Colgate University.
Knecht lives and Works in Hubbardsville, New York.
Visit John Knecht's website below.
