Todd Knopke: CEC(changing everything carefully)9 December 2010– 16 January 2011< PAST
.what’s with your exhibition title?
An acronym is a perfect analogy for my work so I made my own from a part of a sentence that seems as if it should be the motto for today’s world: “changing everything carefully.” Taking parts of a preformed whole to create a new clearer idea/vision/word. CEC sounds like “seek” but also contains double vision, in the form of two Cs (pronounced see). With (E)cstasy in between. It seems like art’s goal.

.you refer to your work as sculpture, flexible sculpture—why sculpture and not painting?
Paintings are made from paint, sculpture from everything else. I love everything else. The process doesn't start with a liquid but with solid material, actual objects. The way I think when building my pieces is 3-dimensional: thicknesses, what lies on top of what, physical weaving, how parts hang. Cutting out is like carving out but with scissors—exactly like using a jigsaw, only quieter and neater. I like how Matisse’s paper cutouts are often described as ”drawing with scissors.“

.do you make preliminary drawings and how extensive are they?

I make doodle maps, lists, descriptions. I do more jotting down of ideas as writing than as drawing. Patterns are constructed for some parts as a way to begin building. I’m not so interested in fortune-telling, I tend to prefer waiting to see, rather than seeing ahead.

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spacer Breakthrough, 2010; fabric, thread, permanent marker, ink, wood; 60 x 28 x 1”; $ 3,500 Inside, 2009; fabric, thread, photo iron-on transfer, ink, zippers; 112 x 276 x 2”; $ 18,000 space Inside, 2009 (detail) Ghost, 2009; fabric, thread; 193 x 60 x 1”; $ 13,000 Loop, 2009; fabric, thread, yarn, photo iron-on transfer, ballpoint pen, permanent marker, ink, vinyl, watercolor; 105 x 84 x 1”; $ 13,000. Loop, 2009 (detail) Will, 2010; fabric, thread, paint, wood, metal, enamel paint, photo iron-on transfer; 96 x 62 x 3”; $ 12,000 Will, 2010 (detail) Not Here Now, 2010; fabric, thread, photo iron-on transfer, ink; 59 x 64 x 1”; $ 6,000 Like Lightning, 2010; fabric, thread, trimmings, zippers,plastic comb, photo iron-on transfer, umbrella; 3 x 25 x 9.5’; installation view on ceiling; $ 18,000 Like Lightning, 2010 (detail) Another Way, 2010; fabric, thread; 20 x 16.5 x1”; $ 600 Afterimage, 2010; fabric, thread; 90 x 96 x1”; $ 7,000 Another Way, 2010; fabric, thread; 20.5 x 14 x 1”; $ 600 Drive (a back and forth across time to save lives), 2010;
fabric, thread, photo iron-on transfer, permanent marker, vinyl,
Chroma Key blue screen; 142.5 x 132 x 1”; $ 15,000
Drive (a back and forth across time to save lives), 2010 (detail) Another Way, 2010; fabric, thread, acrylic paint;
21 x 14 x1”; $ 600
Cardinal, 2010; fabric, thread; 55 x 64 x 1”; $ 6,000
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