Stephen Knapp: Lightpaintings

Stephen Knapp: Lightpaintings April 22 – August 27, 2016 Opening Reception: Friday, April 22, 5:30 - 7:30pm Stephen Knapp dispenses with traditional media to create sculptural canvases composed entirely of light and glass. Heralded as the first new art medium of the 21st century the artist has been developing his ''lightpaintings" since the late 1990s. These works explore color, light and space through the use of specially cut dichroic glass, shaped and polished to create a palette that refracts light onto the walls and surrounding space into abstract compositions. The fabricated glass and steel works are the crossroads of painting, sculpture and technology. ''The walkaround quality is key,'' explains Knapp, ''There has to be depth and movement. I want it to be sculptural. There's this incredible sense of illusion, of going back into the wall. Its almost like a portal opening to another dimension.'' Knapp has gained an international reputation for large-scale works of art held in museums, public, corporate and private collections. He has had solo museum exhibitions at the Boise Art Museum, the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Naples Art Museum, the Bultler Institute of Art, the Dayton Art Institute, and the Polk Museum of Art, among others. The Pensacola Museum of Art will present 14 of the artist's lightpaintings during the summer of 2016. Corporate support provided by Silver Sands Premium Outlets.