Exhibition - Current

In Farewell Log Cabin, Toronto based artist Kris Knight brings winter back for one month, with a new series of figurative oil paintings that depict winter, both externally and internally.

For his latest body of work, Knight has continued his examination of the seasons by creating a series of intimate character based paintings and portraits that explore ideas of cabin fever, isolation and winter phenomena. To most Canadians the notion of being snowed-in until spring seems unconceivable, but to a lot of early northerners it was a seasonal misfortune that one had no choice but to endure. Knight believes that the experience of winter confinement has deep roots in Canadian society, and even though we are less remote than the lone confinement historically experienced, there's still a thrilling uneasiness when our winters turn wild and unforgiving.

Some of Knight's characters in Farewell Log Cabin go bananas, others salaciously make the best of the situation, while the daring try to fight themselves out from winter's mass burial attempt. However, as in most of Knight's previous works, he takes this otherwise stark theme and twists it with sexual overtones, notions of the paranormal, enchantment, superstition, mischief and humour.

Since his first solo with Katharine Mulherin in 2005, Knight's much in demand portraits and paintings have made their way into several permanent museum collections and esteemed private collections. His paintings have been widely collected across Canada, as well as America, South America and Europe, and have been published nationally and internationally and profiled on the CBC. Recent solo exhibitions include So Long Scarecrow (2008) at Spinello Gallery in Miami and How We Quit The Forest (2007) at Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects in Toronto.

For more information, media images or previews of work by Kris Knight contact Katharine Mulherin.

info@katharinemulherin.com 416.993.6510

To see larger images from the show, or to watch the slide show click here