Portland, ME
10/2/10 11:36 AM
The world can get a bit dull seen through adult eyes, which after so many years on the planet tend to grow all too knowing and efficient. This is one of the reasons to have children, beyond the need to propagate humankind and to love something more than life itself. For kids, everything is new and fascinating—a blade of grass, a rough cement wall, a sudden movement. But we can’t all have kids nor can we keep having them every time we need a little wonder. This is one of the reasons to have artists. John Knight is one such creator, and he’s chosen to open our eyes to the marvelousness of the Maine seacoast and its creatures, from sea stars to periwinkles, setting sun to rising moon. He does this through a palette of hot pink sky and orange moon, mauve clams and lime periwinkles, umber basket stars and mint barnacles, and with mark-making that is busy and broad and bold. The overall effect is, appropriately enough, entirely childlike. So if you’re too old and cynical to see the world this way on your own, and haven’t got a young pair of eyes to help you along, have a look at Knight’s paintings. They just might do the trick.
—Lori Waxman