Nick Knight: Image
Daelim Museum, Seoul, South Korea
In collaboration with Nick Knight and the curators of Daelim Museum in Seoul, Carrie Scott co-curated Knight's first-ever retrospective in the fall of 2016.
Press Release:
Daelim Museum is pleased to present Nick Knight: Image, Korea's first exhibition of works by the world’s most influential and visionary photographer Nick Knight, from October 6, 2016. As part of the first generation of photographers to combine photography with digital graphics technology, Knight is a self-described image-maker who strives to create his own unique style across a broad spectrum of genres including documentary work, fashion photography and digital imagery. He was awarded to the Order of the British Empire in 2010. Knight's collaborations with leading designers, brands and magazines including Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and Vogue have drawn wide attention and won numerous awards and accolades, including the British Fashion Awards 2015.
Nick Knight: Image provides a comprehensive overview of the oeuvre of an artist who has repeatedly reinvented himself through images ranging from documentary photos to fashion campaigns carrying social messages for ethnic and animal conservation, and works incorporating digital technology. Comprising six sections, the exhibition features SKINHEADS, Knight's images of anti-establishment youth that emerged in the tumult of the UK in the 1970s; PORTRAITS, his distinctive representations of 100 celebrities produced for i-D magazine; DESIGNER MONOGRAPHS, produced over long periods in collaboration with fashion designers such as Yohji Yamamoto and Jil Sander; and PAINTING & POLITICS, campaign portfolios for world-renowned creators and brands that challenge conventional values regarding “beauty”; and STILL LIFE & KATE, works that dissolve the boundary between painting and photography with their precise textures and exquisite forms of expression. Finally, DIGITAL MOVEMENT introduces Knight's recent works, combining experimental techniques such as moving images and 3D scanning, and a retrospective fashion film of the artist's long-term collaboration with Alexander McQueen.
This exhibition presents some 100 key photos, videos and installations by Nick Knight, highlighting his artistic, avant-garde experimentation that constantly overturns conventional notions of values and beauty. Knight's images, produced through bold demolition of stereotype, bring new visual stimulation to viewers, providing not fear of the unfamiliar but a sense of excitement. Powerfully conveying the artist's way of viewing and interpreting the world, and the messages he aims to deliver, these images give us the courage to constantly adopt novel, individual perspectives.
“I must trust myself, and I must believe in what I do. It may be an arrogant belief, but I can’t look to anyone else to show me the way. I think nobody should play their life by other people’s rules.”
– Nick Knight –
