Michael Knigin, S/N Serigraph, Royal Applause

Artist: Michael Knigin
Title: Royal Applause
Year: 1980
Medium: Serigraph, signed and numbered in pencil
Edition: 300
Paper Size: 21" x 30"


Michael Knigin was born in Brooklyn, New York. He did his undergraduate study at the noted Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Pa. Knigin later became director of Chiron Press, N.Y., a tine art silk-screen and lithography workshop. He has been affiliated as an associate professor at Pratt Institute for many years. Mr. Knigin's images are acclaimed internationally. Knigin intermingles a variety of images, including photo, with the purpose of making specific statements. Most often, he juxtaposes natural images with man-made works, often photographically rendering parts of the imagery for effect. The subjective content of Knigin's work illustrates his concern with specific themes: the dehumanization of mankind, the schism between modern man and nature, the appar- ent lack of concern with the "beautiful" and the "elegant" in the Mainstream of contem- porary culture. With startling contrast, Knigin portrays the distances that have appeared in our lives between elements of nature and modern industrialized society. Always present is a profound sense of the whimsical, a touch of magic. Knigin's imagery takes us closer to our modern realities in a meld of the classical and the current, both technically and con- ceptually. The images, sometimes lyrical, other times piercing, transform the experience of "reality" for the viewer. We're no longer in the presence of objects as we know them, but transported into a multi-layered repre- sentation of a potentially new reality. The unexpected play of objects is reinforced by exquisitely manipulated colors and a range of complementary surfaces and textures. With this, Knigin creates an original pictoral "language" that pleases as it perplexes. This "language" is not a new one.. .the vocabulary consists of objects and environ- mental elements familiar to us. Throuqh the various means (color, texture, fragmenta- tion) plus the use of the viewer's imagination, Knigin presents a "new translation" of the language we know. The viewer is free to per- sonalize the symbols, thus completing Knigin's image-statements.