Stephen Knapp: New Light Exhibit at AMoA
Stephen Knapp: New Light
Exhibition Dates: September 6–November 23, 2013
Member Preview Reception & Artist Talk with Stephen Knapp:
Friday, September 6, 6-8pm
“Glass allows me to manipulate and explore light and illusion, creating pure colors. I revel in their purity, their breathtaking richness – yet I am most drawn to the edges and the soft shadows that overlay a whisper of color and the borders that define space. It is here that mystery and depth and wonder can be found.” – Stephen Knapp
Stephen Knapp creates his lightpaintings by using a special glass treated with layers of metallic coatings that act as a selective prism to separate focused light into different frequencies of the spectrum. Knapp cuts, shapes, and polishes the glass in his studio to make a palette that he can use to refract and reflect light onto a surface and the surrounding space.
Individually tailored for each museum installation, Knapp’s lightpaintings embody an inherently unique and wholly original form of art that integrates sculptural, structural, and purely visual elements into compositions that transform their environment and envelop the viewer in iridescent radiance. Knapp’s creations display abstract art’s affinity with music; the relationship of form, space, and color akin to those of melody, time signature, and harmony. The lightpaintings are in fact symphonies of color. The lightpaintings are the logical outgrowth of Knapp’s longtime concerns as an artist. As a liberal-arts college student, he took up a camera and began experimenting with photography, a creative medium that uses light-sensitive material to record visual information. The reflective and refractive qualities of light continued to interest him as he began transferring his photographic images onto large mural panels in etched metal. This led to an involvement with ceramic glazes and mosaic tile, carved slate, and finally to works constructed of kiln-formed glass that are the lightpaintings’ most recent precursors. Today Knapp’s portfolio reflects fifteen years of developing light, glass, and stainless steel into the medium known as lightpaintings.
Museum Hours, Admission & Contact Information:
Alexandria Museum of Art, 933 2nd Street, Alexandria, LA 71301 / 318-443-3458
Museum Hours: Tue–Fri 10–5, Sat 10–4
FREE admission every 2nd Saturday! Regular Admission: $4 Adults, $3 Seniors/Students/Military, $2 Youth age 4-13, Free for Children 4 & under