Michael Knutson

Shifting Layered Fields - Recent Watercolors

July 15 - August 21, 2021

In his fifth one-person exhibition at Greg Kucera Gallery, Portland, OR painter Michael Knutson continues his exploration of pattern and color. The exhibition’s title, Shifting Layered Fields, is a literal explanation of how the paintings are created. Compositions of spirals, triangles, and ovals are flipped and layered. The resulting tangle of shapes are then separated into triangular and diamond-shaped zones of alternating washes of warm and cool tones. The paintings become kaleidoscopic illusions of transparency and translucency. Knutson’s complex designs of shape and color are at once thoughtful and controlled, but also seemingly out of control.

“My paintings come from a desire to create slippery spaces that challenge my apprehension.”

— Michael Knutson

Work in exhibition