Christopher Knights

Christopher Knights is a Toronto-based artist who uses mixed-media to create unique abstract compositions. He brings each canvas to life with thick, multi-layered paint, which results in a truly immersive work of art. Knights is interested in facilitating a conversation between the natural world and man-made technology in a way which questions nature’s place within contemporary culture. He argues that the two are not opposed to each other, but rather a harmonious and beautiful macrocosm. His work is playful, which balances the otherwise heavy motifs he explores, and he aims to convey an animated, yet inquisitive mood.  

Each painting is its own journey: an expedition Knights undertakes through use of a personal language in order to grapple with what it means to be alive. The artist’s stream-of-consciousness style is present in each textured brushstroke and symbolic representation of form. Knights’s process is an ebb and flow of spontaneous and precise mark-making, exploring the relationship between intention and chance. He allows each mark to communicate with the next, creating a progression of risk-taking and problem-solving moments. Any preconceived ideas of what the image should or could be are eliminated, allowing the work to evolve from one mark to the next. 

Knights studied at Sheridan College of Applied Arts, and has been recognized with awards such as “Best Painting” and “City Archive Purchase Award” at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. His innovative style has gained wide recognition, and he has exhibited extensively throughout Canada and the United States.  In 2018 his work was included in an exhibition of Canadian and Chinese artists at the Lingnan Museum of Fine Art in Donguang, China.