Artists

Pierre Knop

Press release

Opening reception: Thursday 3 April, 6–8pm

Pilar Corrias is pleased to present Fireflies Under Fever Sky, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Pierre Knop. For his first solo show with the gallery, Knop plunges the viewer into kaleidoscopic landscapes – lush forests, imposing mountain ranges, chocolate-box village scenes and dramatic seascapes – that unsettle as much as they seduce.

Knop’s approach begins with personal archives: intimate fragments of photographs, art history and fleeting visual memory become the foundation for expansive, surreal vistas that stretch the limits of imagination. Referencing a diverse range of artists, from Nicolas Poussin or Caspar David Friedrich to Pierre Bonnard, as well as contemporary photography, Knop extends the tradition of European landscape painting. For Knop, the historical weight of the genre offers a unique playground in which many modes of painting, such as Surrealism or the colour fields of Abstract Expressionism, can be tested alongside contemporary notions of the natural world.