ABSENCE/PRESENCE, PRESENCE/ABSENCE

ABSENCE/PRESENCE, PRESENCE/ABSENCE
LUCAS J. KNOWLES

AUGUST 8 - SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

Lucas J. Knowles combines accomplished skill sets of design and craftsmanship, plus versatility in cutting-edge, mechanical, and technical processes to create mixed media sculpture, drawings, and paintings that traverse lines between traditional and boundary-crossing art methods.

In this exhibition, Knowles examines dichotomies metaphorically and figuratively, through invention. He interweaves personal narrative throughout his multidisciplinary approach and confronts issues of mortality and grief within the subversive lure of light and color, function, and craft. He engages in the conceptual nature of play, provoking the curiosity that compels you to look further. Whimsy is the passageway to the existential. Meanings appear slowly and sweetly. With simple yet controlled gestural mark-making, Knowles's works are earnestly human and otherworldly. The power lies in the discovery and unites us in our collective pursuit of understanding and longing for connection.

Lucas J. Knowles is based in Phoenix, Arizona. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a focus on Ceramics and Sculpture from Florida State University. He is currently an MFA Candidate in Ceramics at Arizona State University School of Art. Knowles has exhibited nationally and abroad, including at the Humboldt University of Berlin for Berlin Science Week and the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts in both 2018 and 2019, respectively. In 2019, he was selected to participate in the NCECA National Juried Student Exhibition. In 2020, Knowles received the International Sculpture Center's Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award, earning features by Sculpture.org, ARTSY, and Sculpture Magazine.