BIO
Mark McKnight is a Los Angeles based artist and educator whose work has been exhibited internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include if water forgets how to play mirror (Queens, Los Angeles, 2018) and Turn Into (James Harris, Seattle, 2018). His work has been written about in Aperture Online, Photograph Magazine, and was recently discussed on The Magic Hour: Conversations on Photography. His photographs have been included in several group exhibitions and catalogs of photography including 20/20 Vision: An International Photography Biennial and Defining Photographs & Radical Experiments in Inland Southern California, 1950 - Present (California Museum of Photography, Riverside, 2019). In 2017 he published NOUNS, a collection of photographs that debuted at the Los Angeles Art Book Fair. Additional writing on his work can be found here and here. In 2009, Mark traveled to Finland on a Fulbright Scholarship. In 2017, he was an artist in residence at Storm King Art Center.
McKnight is the winner of the 2019 Aperture Portfolio Prize and was selected as a 2019 Light Work A.I.R.
His first monograph, Heaven is a Prison, will be published by Loose Joints in Fall 2020.
EDUCATION
2015 Master of Fine Arts, University of California, Riverside
2007 Bachelor of Fine Arts, San Francisco Art Institute
SOLO + TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
Not yet titled, Klaus von Nichtssagend, New York, NY, 2020
Aperture Portfolio Prize, Aperture Foundation, New York, NY, 2019
Shadow & Shadow of Shadow, Roger’s Office, Los Angeles, CA, 2019
Turn Into, James Harris Gallery, Seattle, WA, 2018
…if water forgets how to play mirror, QUEENS, Los Angeles, CA, 2018
He's Time. I'm Just a Clock., Strongroom, Los Angeles, CA, 2015
Objects & Actions of Consequence (MFA Thesis), Culver Center for the Arts, Riverside, CA, 2015
Many Meanings are Attached to Mountains, Iceberger, San Francisco, CA, 2007
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Automatic Door, Park View / Paul Soto, Los Angeles, 2019
20/20, James Harris Gallery, Seattle, 2019
Close to Home, Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, CA, 2019
Defining Photographs and Radical Experiments in Inland Southern California, 1945 to Present, California Museum of Photography & Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA, 2019
Monotasking, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA 2018
A Spaghetti Dress for world Peace, Park View / Paul Soto, Los Angeles, CA, 2017
Facing, BBQLA, Los Angeles, CA, 2017
La Mesa Brutal, Arturo Bandini, Los Angeles, CA, 2017
The Upper Deep, Open House, Los Angeles, CA, 2016
9-11, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA, 2016
Russian Doll, M+B, Los Angeles, CA, 2015
Surface of Color, The Pit, Los Angeles, CA, 2015
20/20 Vision: An International Photography Biennial, Christophe Guye (Selection of Grupa o.k.), Zurich, Switzlerland, 2015
The Year of the Goose, Either Way, Los Angeles, CA, 2015
Dressed in Gray, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2013
Greater Los Angeles MFA, Cal State Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, 2013
California Continued: New Approaches in West Coast Photography, Smith Andersen North, San Rafael, CA, 2011
Gray Day, Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles, CA, 2010
The Informers, J-MoCA, Los Angeles, CA 2010
The Lightbearers, POST Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2010
10 x 10 x 10, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA, 2009
Involved, Socially, Triple Base, San Francisco, CA, 2009
Young Curators, New Ideas, Bond Street Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2008
Various Photographs, Curated by Tim Barber, The New York Photo Festival, New York, NY, 2008
TinyVices, White Flag Projects, St. Louis, MO, 2007
TinyVices, La Esquina, Kansas City, MO, 2007
PUBLICATIONS
Heaven is a Prison, London / Marseilles: Loose Joints, 2020
Aperture Magazine #236, New York, NY: Aperture Foundation, September 2019
In the Sunshine of Neglect: Defining Photographs & Radical Experiments in Inland Southern California 1950 - Present, Riverside, CA: Inlandia Institute, 2019
NOUNS, Los Angeles, CA: Bread & Butter, 2017
Pescador, Paul. Surface of Color, Los Angeles, CA: The Pit, 2015.
Myers-Szupinska, Julian & Szupinska-Myers, Joanna. 20/20 (Exhibition Catalog), Zurich, Switzlerland: Sturm & Drang, 2015.
Smoke Bath, New York, NY: Seems Books, 2010
Icons & Allegories, Los Angeles, CA: Bread & Butter Books, 2010
Involved, Socially, San Francisco, CA: Triple Base, 2009
Various Photographs, New York, NY: TV Books, 2008
Vol. 1, Remain in Light, Cambridge, MA: Lay Flat, 2008
GRANTS, AWARDS, RESIDENCIES
2019 Aperture Portfolio Prize, Aperture Foundation, New York, NY
2019 Light Work Artist in Residence, Light Work, Syracuse, NY
2018 BarFund, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Artist in residence, Storm King Art Center / Shandaken Projects, New York, NY
2016 Echo Park Film Center, Artist Commission, Los Angeles, CA
2009 Lois Roth Endowment
2008 Fulbright Scholar, Helsinki, Finland
CURATORIAL
2015 FLASH! (September), The California Museum of Photography, Riverside, CA.
2010 Icons & Allegories, Sight School, Oakland, CA.
PRESS, RADIO, TEXT
“Portfolio: Mark McKnight, Sex Issue 2019”, Les Inrockuptibles, Paris, July 23, 2019
Weitzman, Jordan. "Episode 29: Mark McKnight", The Magic Hour: Conversations on Photography (Audio Interview), 2019
Embser, Brendan. “2019 Portfolio Prize Winner: Mark McKnight”, Aperture, April 19, 2019
Weber, Jasmine. “Art Movements: Accolades” HyperAllergic. April 24, 2019
Gladstone, Sophie. “Inspiring Photography from the Wallpaper Picture Desk,” Wallpaper*, April 3, 2019
Miranda, Carolina. “Datebook: An Artistic Space Station, Experimental Sound, and Riotous Pattern,” Los Angeles Times, January 23, 2019
Staff. “Meet Mark McKnight,” Voyage LA Magazine: City Guide, February 11, 2019
Feinstein, Jon. “Review: Mark McKnight at James Harris Gallery,” Photograph Magazine, November/December, 2018
Staff. “Mark McKnight: Turn Into, Paul Berger: Multiplex, and more,” City Arts Magazine, Seattle, Washington, 2018
“Photography Highlights…Seattle Art Fair,” Humble Arts Foundation, New York, 2018
Cameron, Andrew. “Mark McKnight: Object Permanence,” (Supplementary exhibition text), James Harris Gallery, Seattle, Washington, 2018
Adams, Thomas. "Episode 19: Mark McKnight", Art Traffic, Online (Audio Interview), 2018
Darling, Nikki. "Shadow Boxing Mark McKnight" (Supplementary exhibition text), QUEENS, Los Angeles, 2018
Myers-Szupinska, Julian & Szupinska-Myers, Joanna. "20/20: Mark McKnight" (Exhibition catalog text), Sturm & Drang, Zurich, Switzlerland, 2015
Pescador, Paul. "Surface of Color: Mark McKnight" (Exhibition catalog text), The Pit, Los Angeles, CA, 2015
Ahn, Abe. “Forging Queer Identity with Abstraction,” HyperAllergic. October 19, 2015
Staff. “Artists meld life and art.” SFGate. August 20, 2009
LECTURES, ARTIST TALKS
Yale University, New Haven, CT 2020
American University of Beirut, Lebanon, 2020
UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 2019
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA 2019
USC, Los Angeles, CA, 2018
San Francisco Art Institute, 2018
UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 2017
UC Riverside, Riverside, CA, 2014
UC Riverside, Riverside, CA, 2013
Pitzer College, Los Angeles, CA, 2013
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA, 2013
Cal State Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, 2010
University of Turku, Turku, Finland, 2009
PhotoAlliance at the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA, 2009