KEN KNIGHT IN ANTARCTICA

Ken Knight In Antarctica

Jonathan Grant Galleries 280 Parnell Road Parnell Auckland Phone: (+64) 9 308 9125 jg@jgg.co.nz

www.jgg.co.nz

All paintings are available to view online and in the gallery.

Illustrated cover

Antarctica Reflections

Oil on Board, 119 x 122 cm Signed lower right

In Antarctica 5 - 29 May 2022 ‘There is something elemental and sacred about the continent of Antarctica. It is not owned by any one nation, and because of this the Antarctic Treaty protects the resources and environment from any development.

It is fragile yet primeval. It is a landscape contradiction … an ice clad mountainous landscape in a maritime setting. I found it captivating to paint a landscape that is almost completely devoid of human interference due to its extreme remoteness and harsh climate.’

Ken Knight 2022

‘Louise and I travelled to Antarctica in February 2020. We spent more than two weeks away, culminating in seven days traversing within the Antarctic circle and environs. I took 90 kg of painting equipment with me, including my easel, painting boards, palette, oil paints and three large carrying cases to transport the wet paintings. During that time I painted seventy five paintings in five days on location within Antarctica.

It was an amazing experience. There is something elemental and sacred about the continent of Antarctica. It is not owned by any one nation, and because of this the Antarctic Treaty protects the resources and environment from any development.

It is fragile yet primeval. It is a landscape contradiction … an ice clad mountainous landscape in a maritime setting. I found it captivating to paint a landscape that is almost completely devoid of human interference due to its extreme remoteness and harsh climate. I was inspired and overwhelmed when we arrived in Antarctica, a landscape of breathtaking beauty. The small plein air paintings were painted quickly and have a directness and freshness that could only be achieved by being there. It was a challenge to paint due to the cold and wind. I also found it a challenge to paint the landscape requiring only three colours- black, white and blue.

This landscape appears to be on a knifes edge. Rising atmospheric temperature in the Antarctic continent is the most obvious testament to global warming. A less apparent but insidious evil are the ocean currents reaching Antarctica carrying warm water that travel from the northern oceans in the tropics. The reality is that there is more “snow-ice melt “ under the oceans that is less visible (initially at least ) than above sea level.

One of the conversations that still resonates is something the Captain said to me last year, “I have been coming to Antarctica for twenty years, and it has only been in the last two seasons that I have seen rain “. Prior to 2019, rain was non-existent.

I have never tried to over emphasise this concern (of mine) for the environment in public statements. David Attenborough and others do it so well. I have never wanted to appear pretentious or on a crusade.

However, I do hope that it is obvious in my work that I esteem Nature.

At a time when so much of the planet is being threatened by uncertainty, unwelcome human development and global warming, I found it overwhelming to be in one of the most remarkable and inspiring landscapes I have had the privilege to visit.

On my return, I then spent eighteen months painting large works in the studio, and these are different again.

The sanctity and purity of Antarctica was palpable and as an artist the experience filled me with a sense of wonder and engagement.

I found it particularly relevant to paint a continent that is being threatened by climate change. The connection and interconnection of all things living is well recognised, and it is a tragic reality that global warming and it’s impact is now apparent in the most remote regions of our planet.

Apart from snow melt/glacial retreat, the Antarctic landscape has not changed for tens of thousands of years … or longer. I had a distinct sense that I travelled back in time when we travelled south beyond 66° 30’ marking the Antarctic Circle.’

- Ken Knight 2022

Day 1 - Day 6 Painting Locations Day 1 Thursday 6th February 2020 Hanusse Bay & Detaille Island Latitude 66 °56’S Longitude: 67 °29’W Day 2 Friday 7th February 2020 Prospect Point & Fish Islands Latitude 66 °00’S Longitude: 65 °20’W Day 3 Saturday 8th February 2020 Yalour Islands and Pleneau Island Latitude 65 °10’S Longitude: 64 °05’W Day 4 Sunday 9th February 2020 Cuverville Island & Fournier Bay Latitude 64 °68’S Longitude: 62 °62’W Day 5 Monday 10th February 2020 Enterprise Island & Portal Point Latitude 64 °63’S Longitude: 62 °16’W Day 6 Tuesday 11th February 2020 Half Moon Island & Livingston Island Latitude 62 °94’S Longitude: 60 °55’W

Ken Knight on board the ship Scenic Eclipse, Antarctica

Ice Flow Antarctica

Oil on Board,119 x 122 cm Signed lower right

Ice Cliffs Antarctica

Oil on Board, 119 x 122 cm Signed lower right

Prospect Point, Antarctica 7th Feb. 2020 11:26 am.

66°00’S, 65°20’W Oil on Board, 34 x 35 cm Signed lower right

Ice Flow Antarctica

Oil on Board, 34 x 35 cm Signed lower left

6th Feb 20 11:55am Antarctica Oil on Board, 25 x 50 cm Signed lower right

6th Feb 20 4:38pm Antarctica Oil on Board, 25 x 50 cm Signed lower right

9th Feb 20 6:38am Antarctica Oil on Board, 25 x 50 cm Signed lower left

7th Feb 20 6:21am Antarctica Oil on Board, 25 x 50 cm Signed lower left

9th Feb 20, 9:03pm Antarctica Oil on Board, 33 x 35 cm Signed lower left

7th Feb 20, 8:34am Antarctica

Oil on Board, 33 x 35 cm Signed lower right

9th Feb 20, 7:47am Antarctica Oil on Board, 33 x 35 cm Signed lower left

7th Feb 20, Dawn - Antarctica

Oil on Board, 33 x 35 cm Signed lower left

8th Feb 20, Reflections - Antarctica Oil on Board, 25 x 50 cm Signed lower left

Ice Cliffs II

Oil on Board, 25 x 50 cm Signed lower right

‘At a time when so much of the planet is being threatened by uncertainty, unwelcome human development and global warming, I found it overwhelming to be in one of the most remarkable and inspiring landscapes I have had the privilege to visit.’

Ken Knight 2022

8th Feb 20 Antarctica Oil on Board, 25 x 50 cm Signed lower left

Day 5 10:25am

Oil on Board, 25 x 50 cm Signed lower left

Frozen Sea Ice Cliffs Antarctica Oil on Board, 33 x 35 cm Signed lower right

7:55am 6th Feb 20, Antarctica

Oil on Board, 33 x 35 cm Signed lower right

9th Feb 20, 3:17pm Antarctica Oil on Board, 33 x 35 cm Signed lower right

Ice Cliff - Antarctica

Oil on Board, 25 x 50 cm Signed lower left

6th Feb 20 1:46pm Antarctica Oil on Board, 25 x 50 cm Signed lower left

6th Feb 20 6:54am Glacier Antarctica Oil on Board, 25 x 50 cm Signed lower left

Cuverville Island, Antarctica 9th Feb 2020. 64°68’S, 62°62’W Oil on Board, 122 x 119 cm Signed lower left

Ken Knight was born in Sydney in 1956. He is one of Australia’s leading plein-air painters and as such he follows a rich lineage of Australia’s famous impressionists including Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts. His iconic landscapes are inspired by the azure blue of Sydney harbour, the sweeping drama of the Kakadu, the frosty grandeur of the Snowy Mountains and the vast open stretches of land and sea that surround him.

“My paintings are all about simplifying the landscape,” he says. “I don’t like to tell the whole story, otherwise it loses its mystery. By reducing the landscape and abstracting elements from it, I enable the viewers to make an interpretation of the image for themselves.”

Knight concedes his work is in the style of the Heidelberg School of which Streeton was a leading member. He spends approximately four months of the year travelling, sketching and painting as he goes. Several sketches are often made of a scene before the final work is executed; a process he says is essential in “freeing up” the work.

The controlled exaggeration of colour in the landscape is fundamentally important to his technique. Heavy impasto applied with a palette knife and energetic brushwork creates a painting that offers something a little different each time it is viewed.

After each expedition he takes the paintings back to his studio, where he evaluates and appraises them, often making subtle changes to improve the structure of the finished painting.

Over the years Knight has travelled and painted and exhibited extensively around the world including New York, London, New Zealand, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Venice, Antarctica and of course his homeland, Australia. In 2005 he was honoured with a survey show “A Love of Landscape’ at the Gosford Regional Art Gallery.

Knight has been awarded the Windsor and Newton Australian Art Award, 1994 and the Royal Arts Society Spring Exhibition, 1998, among many other awards.

Knight’s work has been purchased for numerous private and public collections in Australia, England, Italy, America, Mexico, South Africa and Europe, including those of the Castlemaine Regional Art Gallery and Historical Museum, IBM, The Commonwealth Bank, Johnson & Johnson, Parliament House in Brisbane, The Royal Grocers Hall, London, The Tasmanian Art Gallery Museum, the Canberra Museum & Gallery and the collection of The Archbishop of New York.

Jonathan Grant Galleries 280 Parnell Road PO Box 37673 Parnell Auckland New Zealand Tel: (64-9) 308 9125 E-Mail: jg@jgg.co.nz

www.jgg.co.nz

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