Ineke Knudsen is a figurative oil painter from Morgantown, WV, currently living and working in Providence, RI. Her recent gallery exhibitions include group shows at Field Projects in NYC, Gallery 263 in Cambridge, MA, Tureen in Dallas, TX, and The Ignition Space in Fall River, MA. Ineke holds an MFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA in Painting from West Virginia University.
Artist Statement
Through voluminous mountains, dense trees, and empty plains, a bright light pierces through the sky, drawing to its center a dancing throng of worshipers. The ritual is at its height, and the rhythmic movement bleeds the lines between animals, people, and those in between. The worshipers morph, circle, and stare, confronting the viewer with an unwelcoming gaze.
Using the formal qualities of color, tessellation, and compression of space, I seek to draw the viewer into a place that is a memory of a memory of our current world. Though I am inspired by actual religious and pagan iconography and practices, I do not concern myself with the subject of my creatures’ devotion. I attempt to join in the viewer as one who has stumbled upon a place where they do not, or no longer, belong. Lodged somewhere between horror and rapture, I leave my creatures to their dance.
