On Formality

“On Formality” brings together a new body of work that examines formal thinking pushed beyond the square and the expected frame. Departing from traditional pictorial formats, Knut explores custom-shaped canvases that interrupt symmetry and resist visual completion. The support itself becomes an active element within the work, destabilising the conventional relationship between figure and ground and introducing moments of pause, deception, and spatial tension.

Several works are constructed from overlapping, ultra-thin airbrushed lines, developed through a process closer to textile construction than expressive gesture. Here, form is not asserted but accumulated, emerging gradually through repetition and density. Subtle tonal shifts and near- imperceptible variations create surfaces that appear quiet and controlled yet retain an underlying sense of movement creating a continuous special deception.

The paintings were produced over several months spent in isolation in the Polish countryside, in a village known as Dry Forest, a remote village without access to internet connection. This deliberate withdrawal from distraction enabled a sustained engagement with structure, process, and duration. Within this context, Knut’s practice becomes one of reduction and attention, where minor deviations gain significance and the tension between control and dissolution remains unresolved.

“On Formality” presents painting as a site of measured negotiation rather than resolution. Where limits are tested, form is held in suspension, and the act of looking unfolds over time.