Opening Reception
May 18, 2019 |6-10pm
Knowledge Bennett’s latest body of work marks an evolution from his deep interest in socio-political pop-art based subject matters. It gives way to an introspective yet conceptual concern marked by abstraction and minimalism; one that is deeply rooted in the collective consciousness and the infinite capabilities of thy self. Each artwork within this series provides a new perspective, an intimate moment of respite in which color is free from object and becomes subject itself.
Like his aesthetic predecessors, Bennett submerges himself into color fields to endow painting with profound, pensive energy, and spiritual significance. Comparable to Barnett Newman’s vast interest in presenting a series of intriguing paradoxes regarding size and scale. John McCracken who converges the restrained qualities of minimalism with a distinct sensibility expressed through color, and finish. Or Pierre Solages’ “my instrument is not black but the light reflected from black.” Bennett too breaks from representation to bring forth a formal query within art history; thus an intellectual perspective emerges which frees itself from semiotics’ limitations to challenge its finite constrictions. Furthermore, Bennett activates a unity as well as a sense of silence, which gives way to an alternative vantage point while providing a radical safe space for reflection, functioning simultaneously as a mirror for introspection and a window for critical thinking.
The exhibition consists of ten artworks chosen categorically to address Bennett’s contemporary concerns. The cornerstone of which is an homage to Bennett’s father, wife, and brother, who passed away in 2018. The tryptic stands as the centerpiece of the exhibition inciting a moment of silence, but also highlighting Bennett’s intimate mourning as he tries to quiet exterior noise to lose himself in each painting. Significant loss and deep examination of personal grief, allowed Bennett to journey within the true and infinite possibilities of himself, in order to better comprehend how he determines the conscious contact he has with outside forces.
Curated by Erika Hirugami, MAAB
Curatorial Director, The Know Contemporary
“The most significant abstract art today reflects an inner conflict between the socially encouraged will to conventional communication and the personal will to spiritual experience.”
“My paintings serve as healing mechanisms, spiritual objects which establish a space for contemplation; mirrors that reflect ones true inner-self instead of the outward appearance. The paintings encourage critical thinking while representing infinite possibility.”
