b. 1978, Sydney, Australia
Lives and works in Sydney
Knight is an eight-time finalist in the Archibald Prize, most recently in 2022, a four-time finalist in the Sulman and Wynne Prizes, and a past winner of the Mosman Art Prize. His work is represented in major national and international collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, National Portrait Gallery, Australian Consulate (Manila, Philippines) and the Australian Consulate (Singapore). He has exhibited internationally in solo and group presentations in Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Manila, Miami, Shanghai, Singapore and Taipei. His portrait book, 50 Portraits, is due to be published by Artist Profile, and his monograph will be published next year by Thames & Hudson.
A celebrated presence in the Australian art scene, Jasper Knight’s work has always had associations with the built environment. His works depict everything from unused industrial buildings, wharves, bridges to the busy traffic of the street and the people within it. He is known for his bright, bold use of primary colour and more recently blue monotone colour, that are used on surfaces constructed with industrial materials. Such material transformations naturally lend themselves to perceptions of the industrial landscape itself. Knight’s paintings challenge austere readings of the industrial landscape and replace them with something deeper: living infrastructures, the bones upon which contemporary life is fleshed. His recent FIREWORKS series marks a new direction in Knight’s practice, focusing on Sydney’s palm trees through a pared-back blue palette and a heightened emphasis on speed, surface and repetition. The works draw attention to these ubiquitous yet often unseen forms as carriers of memory, history and urban imagination. His surfaces are often collaged and glossy, providing Knight’s work with lustrous, immersive backdrops upon which line and form are accentuated. Dripping and melting, enamel, gloss acrylic and gesso create textural depth and warmth.
Jasper Knight is one of Australia’s most successful and highly regarded contemporary painters. He is an eight time finalist in the Archibald Prize, most recently in 2022, a four-time finalist of the Sulman and Wynne Prizes, and is a past winner of the Mosman Art Prize. His work is represented in major national and international collections including the National Gallery of Australia, National Portrait Gallery, Australian Consulate (Manila, Philippines) and the Australian Consulate (Singapore). He has exhibited work internationally in a solo capacity and in group presentations in Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Manilla, Miami, Shanghai, Singapore and Taipei.
His portrait book, 50 Portraits, is due out in 2025 published by Artist Profile and his Monograph is being published next year by Thames and Hudson.
