Manuel Knapp: HERE, NOW

MANUEL KNAPP

HERE, NOW

Manuel Knapp: HERE, NOW Jim Kempner Fine Art is pleased to announce HERE, NOW, the first American show of contemporary German sculptor, Manuel Knapp. The exhibition will feature Knapp’s newest geometric wall sculptures and a site-specific installation in the gallery sculpture garden. The exhibition will be on view until October 20th, 2019. Opening reception with the artist will be held on September 19th, 2019 from 6pm-8pm.

Knapp’s limited materials –wood, nails, staples, cotton– offer him infinite compositional variations. His handcrafted compositions are based on logic and natural symmetries. As the artist describes, his work is, “on the edge of what is capable by the human eye; the appearance seems like an illusion...and makes the spectator question what he believes is fact.” Knapp’s work ranges in style, from architectural to fantastical, while retaining geometric order.

To begin, Knapp builds a wooden box and affixes nails to the interior. He fractures the edges of the box to create a new shape that mirrors, as well as, defines the pattern of the string. His choice of string color further enhances the complex geometric planes and the perspective changes with the movement of the spectator. In Blue (2019), ranging shades of blue string create a kaleidoscopic effect. The lighter shades of string emphasize airiness within the angular terrain, while the darker string against the black wooden background creates the semblance of infinite depth. In comparison, Stealth Orange’s (2019) stacked planes of orange and white present assertive protrusions into space, confronting the viewer instead with an impenetrable mass.

Knapp’s craftsmanship and methodical approach transforms simple materials into three-dimensional mazes. He reflects, “I don’t always know where I end up with my ideas, but I have no doubt how to get there. The way seems clear to me by creating step by step [design] for an evolution in slow motion. There is so much to explore, even after seven years of intense work, I am just getting started.”

Knapp’s art works have been acquired by private and public art collectors, and the permanent collections the following private museums: Kunstwerk: Sammlung Klein, the Museum Ritter: Sammlung Marli Hoppe Ritter, and the Collection Pforzheim. Knapp has been commissioned to do site specific works at Galerie Für Kunst Schorndorf in Germany. He lives and works in Grossglattbach, Germany.

For more information please contact Director Sarah Browne at sarah@jimkempner.com.

Pearl, 2019.

Cotton, nails, wood, emulsion paint.

24 1/2 x 38 1/2 x 5�.

Secret Pattern, 2019.

Cotton, nails, wood, emulsion paint.

48 x 80 x 11 1/2�.

Troublemaker, 2019.

Cotton, nails, wood, emulsion paint.

39 1/2 x 63 1/2 x 6 3/4�.

Gold & Ashes, 2019.

Cotton, nails, wood, emulsion paint.

44 1/2 x 44 1/2 x 5 1/2�.

Stealth Orange, 2019.

Cotton, nails, wood, emulsion paint.

39 3/4 x 31 1/2 x 6 1/4�.

Blue, 2019.

Cotton, wood (multiplex birch/beech), staples, emulsion paint.

38 1/4 x 47 1/2 x 9 1/2�.

JIM KEMPNER FINE ART

Jim Kempner Fine Art specializes in contemporary paintings, sculpture, photography, and works on paper, with a special emphasis on contemporary master prints and outdoor sculpture. Our inventory appeals to the established as well as beginning collector. We work closely with art advisors, designers, corporations and museums to expand and enrich their varied collections.

Located in the heart of Chelsea, the gallery’s three story modernist-inspired structure designed by architects Smith & Thompson boasts one of the few outdoor sculpture gardens in New York City, and is included in a number of books about contemporary architecture. Our inventory includes work by Donald Baechler, John Baldessari, Louise Bourgeois, Christo, Chuck Close, Richard Diebenkorn, Jim Dine, Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler, Spencer Finch, Jane Hammond, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, Jasper Johns, Deborah Kass, Alex Katz, Ellsworth Kelly, William Kentridge, Jeff Koons, Robert Mangold, Robert Motherwell (Jim Kempner Fine Art represents the Dedalus Foundation, Robert Motherwell’s print archive, in New York), Sol Lewitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Longo, Elizabeth Peyton, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha, Paula Scher, Sean Scully, Frank Stella, Donald Sultan, Wayne Thiebaud, Andy Warhol and others.

Among the contemporary artists whose work we represent are Robert Attanasio, Christopher Beane, Stanley Casselman, Long Bin Chen, Eduardo del Valle and Mirta Gómez, Rinaldo Frattolillo, Gianfranco Gorgoni, John Grande, John Henry, Charlie Hewitt, Jay Kelly, Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese, Jerry Mischak, David Mitchell, Craig Norton, Greg Parker, Robert Petersen, Randy Regier, Tom Slaughter, Pal Svensson and Boaz Vaadia.

Formerly a private dealer, Jim Kempner opened his gallery, Jim Kempner Fine Art, at its present location in the fall of 1997. Sarah Browne has been the associate director since 2011 and the gallery director since October 2018. Jim Kempner has published prints by Rinaldo Frattolillo, Charlie Hewitt, Robert Indiana, Paula Scher, Bernar Venet, in addition to Gianfranco Gorgoni’s photographs of Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty.

Other publications include Ligorano/Reese’s Line Up portfolio, Untitled 2001 silkscreen, and the DEMOCRACY lightbox, made in collaboration with former gallery director Dru Arstark, under the name Madness of Art Editions. Additionally, he has published his first editioned print, Apocryphal Now, in 2014.

501 West 23rd Street New York, NY 10011 212-206-6872 info@jimkempner.com jimkempnerfineart.com Jim Kempner Fine Art

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