YANG GALLERY • Beijing 798 is proud to present established Swiss contemporary artist Rolf Knie’s Solo Exhibition from the 19th of October to 9th of November 2013.
Rolf Knie was born in Bern, Switzerland on 16 August 1949 into the 6th generation of the famous Circus Knie family. Following in the traditions of his forebears, he began his career on horseback, later appearing as a clown at the age of 24.
Four years later, whilst still in the circus, Knie started to paint. From that time he has gone on to achieve international recognition as one of Switzerland’s leading artists with much of his art forming part of many important collections.
Rolf Knie was a giant in both the circus world as well as the Art world. His strongly expressive pictures have a finely tuned understanding of human nature and touch our souls. This probably explains the unbounded and uninhibited success, which he has enjoyed since devoting himself entirely to painting. Afterall, his artistic creation was experienced first-hand as a member, performer and finally director of the Circus Knie dynasty. It was here, in this world of artifice, that Rolf absorbed the images which he uses today to enchant Art lovers from all walks of life. It is from these that he draws his lifeblood.
In Rolf’s works, the artist’s close links with the circus are omnipresent. He is able to conjure up imaged he has been absorbing all his life and give them a new existence of their own on canvas. The circus scenes in his paintings form a theatrical world, a cosmos of their own. For Rolf Knie, the large red star that crowns the Big Top has become a fixed star in a space which only he is capable of sounding.