who is chris knight?

My background in art began when I was five years old, drawing Superheroes in my father’s account ledger. The fascination with these larger than life, symbolic and mythic figures was the first step in a lifelong love of visual symbols and storytelling.

I use narrative elements in my paintings in order to discover and explore the idea that identity and relationships are, in fact, composed of stories: the stories we tell ourselves, the stories we tell others, the stories we choose to remember, the stories we choose to forget. My paintings are filled with allusions to the romance, the caper, and the disaster; filled with bits of text that suggest a children’s primer or lexicon; and filled with characters, tropes, and odd, diorama-like settings. They are filled with story shapes that are familiar and resonant, and suggest that these images are meant to be read.

In this respect, you are invited to interpret whether these are moments within a story about leaving or returning, loss or recovery, connection or disconnection, the past or the present, remembering or forgetting.

 It is my hope that they resonate with you and remind you of your own stories. And perhaps feel larger than life, like those superheroes I drew long ago in my father’s ledger.

Chris Knight holds an MFA in painting from the University of Wisconsin—Madison.  He was the recipient of the 2007 WK Rose Fellowship in the Creative Arts and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant.  He teaches drawing and painting at Portland Community College.