About John Knight

John KnightJohn Knight (b. 1986, Cincinnati, OH, USA) is a Montana based conceptual artist and independent curator. His work is often site-specific and concerned with the intersection of architecture, design, class and histories of painting. Knight has presented solo exhibitions internationally at BSMNT Gallery in Leipzig, Germany, and Rheum Room in Basel, Switzerland. In the United States, he has exhibited solo and two-person projects at: GCADD in Granite City, Illinois (with Nicolo Gentile); Window Mine and the Holland Project in Reno, Nevada; Final Hot Desert in Salt Lake City, Utah; Private Places, Muscle Beach and Portland State University (with Rebecca Peel) in Portland, Oregon; the American Institute of Thoughts and Feelings in Tucson, Arizona; and Julius Caesar in Chicago (with Matt Morris). Knight is currently a curator in residence at the Montana Open Air Residency program in western Montana. Upcoming projects of Knight’s includes a solo exhibition at the Northcutt Steele Gallery at Montana State University-Billing and two curatorial projects with Open Air during the summer of 2022. As a curator, he has initiated various artist-run spaces and curatorial projects which include: Williamson | Knight Gallery, Cherry and Lucic, and H. Klum Fine Art in Portland; THE PINK HOUSE (Jan. 19, 1995) at Bad Reputation in Los Angeles, California; and FreeSpace Projects in Cincinnati, Ohio. Knight has participated in residencies at the Carrizozo Artist in Residency Program in Carrizozo, New Mexico; the Rainmaker Residency at Yale Union in Portland; and with the New York Arts Practicum in New York City, New York. Currently Knight works full time as a Registrar at the Missoula Art Museum, and recently served on the board of directors at KALICO in Kalispell, Montana.

Juror's Statement

As an artist and curator, I am concerned with how to democratize and decentralize the process for exhibiting works of art. For students and artists working in the intermountain west and on the high prairie, coming together to support one another through exhibition making is an excellent way to promote community and provide support to each other. With the MSU-Billings Juried Student Exhibition, I decided to accept works of art by each artist who submitted to the exhibition open call. In this process, themes of abstraction, materiality, experience and fantasy were most notable. These themes are the foundation for strong arts communities. It should also be acknowledged that in taking the step to submit pieces to this exhibition open call, each student is in community with each other. This is an important moment in the development of student-artists. I believe a democratized exhibition that includes all who submitted art for consideration fosters community and builds support. My role as such, is to understand how and which artworks submitted for consideration can be displayed together. Thank you to the students and staff of MSU-Billings for entrusting me to the role of Juror for this exhibition. The caliber of works submitted marks a bright future for all the artists in the 2022 Student Exhibition.