Silke Otto-Knapp

Curated by Sarah Cosulich.

Mutina for Art is pleased to present a project specifically created by Silke Otto-Knapp for Casa Mutina Milano. Despite the artist’s untimely passing just a few weeks ago, Mutina is carrying through the project that she pursued and jointly developed for the space in Milan.

Silke Otto-Knapp has imagined a space in which the paintings interact with ceramics, opening a dialogue between figuration and abstraction. Here, painting overlaps with the articulated ceramic setting, creating new perspectives in the encounter between movement and solidity, body and matter, form and scenery.

The artist’s paintings—rigorously black and white—represent figures that fluctuate in space in an interplay of between positive and negative. Obtained through the use of watercolours on canvas in a complex process of absorbance and stratification, the forms seem to move on a stage without thresholds; a type of scenic design in which subject and background exchange the role of protagonist.

Dance is the main theme of Otto-Knapp’s work and the exhibition is inspired in particular by the choreographies of Michael Clark and his ability to reinterpret classical ballet through a modern approach. What dominates is the rhythmic performance of the silhouette on the canvas, as well as the atmosphere that arises from these expressive landscapes—concrete and elusive in the silence of the narration.

In the show, curated by Sarah Cosulich, the ceramic backdrops give way to a third dimension in which the spectator moves in relation to the canvases. The exhibition is enriched by a work realized directly onto ceramics, made in collaboration with Mutina. This new and unexpected ceramic painting displays the artist’s approach and its many souls.

Silke Otto-Knapp
Silke Otto-Knapp (Osnabrüek, 1970–Los Angeles 2022) has been one of the great international protagonists of painting. Born in Germany where she conducted her early studies, Otto-Knapp later obtained a Masters at Chelsea College of Art
in London where she then lived. Since 2014 she lived and worked in Los Angeles where she was professor of painting at UCLA. She has exhibited in solo shows at the Renaissance Society in Chicago (2020) and at Kunsthalle Wien, Kunstverein Munich, Camden Arts Centre, London, and Tate Britain in London. She has participated in group exhibitions at Barbican Gallery, London (2020), at Tate Modern, London, the Liverpool Biennial (2018), the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, the ICA Boston and the 9th International Istanbul Biennial (2005).

Mutina for Art
Mutina for Art is a project dedicated to contemporary art that originates at MUT, an exhibition space within Mutina Headquarters in Fiorano Modenese, and from 2021, has also been developing in the space of Casa Mutina Milan. Besides a regular programme of solo and group shows, the Mutina for Art initiative also comprises the award This is Not a Prize, given annually in the support of an international artist, and Dialogue, a series of collaborative projects with artists, galleries and institutions worldwide.

Mutina
A company of excellence, Mutina represents a new way of looking at ceramics, no longer simply as tiles but as an interior design project in its own right. It is a designer’s project that combines technology, craftsmanship and experimentation to overcome the limits imposed by materials, as well as essential research into extending the high quality of the product. Mutina works together with designers such Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Nathalie Du Pasquier, Konstantin Grcic, Hella Jongerius, Laboratorio Avallone, OEO Studio, Raw Edges, Inga Sempé, Patricia Urquiola and Tokujin Yoshioka, who all share in the same passion and unique approach to the product, based on continuous research.

For further info and material contact:
Bianca Bertolissi Maria Elena Barbati press [​at​] mutina.it. Hashtags: mutinaforart, silkeottoknapp, casamutinamilano.