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The Guardian
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘They digest externally': the artist who creates paintings with live flies
One morning in Denver as artist John Knuth was getting his exhibition ready at the David B Smith Gallery, the police knocked on the door to check he wasn't housing a dead body. 'They said, 'We've got a report of a lot of flies in here. Is there a dead body or anything rotting?'' Knuth recalls to the Guardian over Zoom. The hundreds of flies emerging from Knuth's gallery were actually his collaborators. For over a decade, Knuth has been creating paintings using the regurgitation of tens of thousands of flies. 'When flies eat they digest externally,' explains Knuth. 'They're in a constant state of regurgitation. They land on a surface, puke up, suck it back in. Puke up, suck it back in.' After feeding the insects a mixture of acrylic colored paint and sugar water, the flies spend several weeks expelling the mixtures on to his canvases. 'From that I get these really transcendent color connections.' While that might sound like a rather odd and disgusting approach, Knuth has been praised for pushing the boundaries of nature, beauty and process with his abstract pointillist paintings, which have been described as 'vibrant and seemingly luminescent' and 'incandescent [and] shimmering'. As well as being sticky work, it occasionally leads to run-ins with the law. After inviting the investigating Denver police officers inside the gallery, the effortlessly effervescent and excitable Knuth charmingly explained that rather than concealing a corpse, the flies were busy at work. 'I told them, 'I'm an artist. Hundreds of thousands of flies are making paintings for me. Some are escaping.' The cops quickly echoed the usual response Knuth gets for his work from critics and gallery visitors alike. 'They were so intrigued. They were like, 'This is amazing.' They invited the people at the bank who reported the flies over and 20 minutes later they were all on board with it and apologizing for raising a fuss.' Knuth is currently showcasing his latest array of fly paintings at the Hollis Taggart gallery in New York as part of his exhibition, The Hot Garden. This showcase has been particularly resonant for Knuth. It's his first major exhibition since he lost the Los Angeles home he shared with his wife and child, as well as his entire archive, in January's Eaton fire. After the tragedy, Knuth returned to fly paintings as 'they helped pay for my house that burned down. I wanted to get back to the beginning point.' It was almost inevitable that Knuth's art would intersect with nature. Growing up in the suburbs of Minneapolis and St Paul, Knuth spent all of his time catching snakes, frogs, turtles, and fishing. Knuth's fascination with animals and insects continued when he became an artist. He would mix rattlesnake venom with paint, he painted coyote penis bones gold, and created gold leaf horseshoe crabs. Even he recognizes that he's chosen quite an unusual path. 'I remember thinking at one point, 'What the fuck am I doing? Why didn't I start painting nudes or get a muse?'' While struggling in high school, Knuth found his salvation in several art books at the library. Intrigued by the work of Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns in particular, Knuth started to regularly visit the variety of art museums across Minneapolis. 'There's a tremendous art community there that fed my curiosity. That's really where I discovered art.' Knuth then attended the University Of Minnesota, where he got a BFA in art, and worked under Mark Dion – a conceptual artist renowned for mixing art and science. 'He was my mentor. He showed me you can be really smart and an intellectual troublemaker, plus go out and drink beer and make a living as an international artist.' Knuth was first struck by the idea to work with flies in the buildup to the 2003 Iraq war. After reading that flies had been responsible for more human suffering than all wars, because of how they have spread malaria and numerous other diseases, Knuth initially wanted to create an anti-war piece by tying paper airplanes on to house flies to make his 'own little biological warfare air force'. As he explored this option, he noticed that flyspeck looked like little spots of paint. In 2005, Knuth continued his experimentation by feeding flies McDonald's and Taco Bell. But the results were just brown paintings. 'They were cool conceptual objects. But not beautiful artworks.' He also didn't have enough money to buy the number of flies he required to fulfill his vision. Then in 2013, Knuth was approached by the Museum Of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles to do a 'big production' of his fly paintings. The resulting video went viral. 'That moment made my career. Since then I've had shows around the world.' Knuth's fly paintings have been bought by multiple private art collectors and are also in the permanent collection at the Asheville Art Museum, North Carolina. The Hollis Taggart show marks Knuth's third solo exhibition in New York. After being approached by director Paul Efstathiou in February, Knuth devised the concept of the Hot Garden because he wanted to reflect what he and numerous artists had gone through with the Los Angeles fires. 'This was a generation changing event for my generation of artists. I literally know hundreds of artists that got hit by this. Five artists on my block alone lost their houses.' Since his work had always engaged with climate, bugs and life, it felt like a natural continuation to bring the fire into his paintings. For the titular piece of the exhibition, Knuth wanted to create 'distorted or distressed landscapes by pulling paint across the canvas to make fire motifs'. For the piece January 7, the day that Knuth watched his home burn down, he mixed red, lavender and green flyspeck to produce a 'dark and ominous' tone and visuals reminiscent of fire and smoke. While constructing his paintings, Knuth looked at Monet's use of color compositions in his lily paintings, while turning to warm colors, like oranges and yellows, because they represented heat. Knuth isn't just presenting his fly paintings at The Hot Garden. He's also exhibiting a sculptural installation, entitled The Sculpture Garden. It includes fragments of artworks recovered from his destroyed home, as well as pieces from other artists affected by the fire. Glenn Phillips, the director of the Getty Research Center, was so impressed that he's already bought two pieces for the Getty Museum. Including, This Is Our Pompeii, a New York Times article on the impact of the LA fires on local artists, covered in red flyspeck. While Knuth is delighted that the fly paintings have connected with art lovers and critics yet again, he can't help but get a little somber when asked if the exhibition has helped him process his trauma. 'Being busy helps. Having a reason to keep doing this helps. But all of my archive and retrospective is gone. That's the first 25 years of my career. My work was a way to engage in the world. Unfortunately the world engaged with me pretty intensely six months ago. There's just so much tragedy in the world that the news cycle moves on.' But as Knuth picks up the pieces for the next phase of his career, he's not straying too far away from the formula that has garnered him so much success. His new Pasadena studio is full of dead flies caught in fly traps hanging from the globe, giant fishhook sculptures, dead stuffed rattlesnakes painted red, and hundreds of black sea urchins in gold foil painted black. 'I'm 46 now, so hopefully I have another 25 years left to make up for what I lost.' The Hot Garden is on show at Hollis Taggart at 109 Norfolk Street in New York, New York until 16 August
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘They digest externally': the artist who creates paintings with live flies
One morning in Denver as artist John Knuth was getting his exhibition ready at the David B Smith Gallery, the police knocked on the door to check he wasn't housing a dead body. 'They said, 'We've got a report of a lot of flies in here. Is there a dead body or anything rotting?'' Knuth recalls to the Guardian over Zoom. The hundreds of flies emerging from Knuth's gallery were actually his collaborators. For over a decade, Knuth has been creating paintings using the regurgitation of tens of thousands of flies. 'When flies eat they digest externally,' explains Knuth. 'They're in a constant state of regurgitation. They land on a surface, puke up, suck it back in. Puke up, suck it back in.' After feeding the insects a mixture of acrylic colored paint and sugar water, the flies spend several weeks expelling the mixtures on to his canvases. 'From that I get these really transcendent color connections.' While that might sound like a rather odd and disgusting approach, Knuth has been praised for pushing the boundaries of nature, beauty and process with his abstract pointillist paintings, which have been described as 'vibrant and seemingly luminescent' and 'incandescent [and] shimmering'. As well as being sticky work, it occasionally leads to run-ins with the law. After inviting the investigating Denver police officers inside the gallery, the effortlessly effervescent and excitable Knuth charmingly explained that rather than concealing a corpse, the flies were busy at work. 'I told them, 'I'm an artist. Hundreds of thousands of flies are making paintings for me. Some are escaping.' The cops quickly echoed the usual response Knuth gets for his work from critics and gallery visitors alike. 'They were so intrigued. They were like, 'This is amazing.' They invited the people at the bank who reported the flies over and 20 minutes later they were all on board with it and apologizing for raising a fuss.' Knuth is currently showcasing his latest array of fly paintings at the Hollis Taggart gallery in New York as part of his exhibition, The Hot Garden. This showcase has been particularly resonant for Knuth. It's his first major exhibition since he lost the Los Angeles home he shared with his wife and child, as well as his entire archive, in January's Eaton fire. After the tragedy, Knuth returned to fly paintings as 'they helped pay for my house that burned down. I wanted to get back to the beginning point.' It was almost inevitable that Knuth's art would intersect with nature. Growing up in the suburbs of Minneapolis and St Paul, Knuth spent all of his time catching snakes, frogs, turtles, and fishing. Knuth's fascination with animals and insects continued when he became an artist. He would mix rattlesnake venom with paint, he painted coyote penis bones gold, and created gold leaf horseshoe crabs. Even he recognizes that he's chosen quite an unusual path. 'I remember thinking at one point, 'What the fuck am I doing? Why didn't I start painting nudes or get a muse?'' While struggling in high school, Knuth found his salvation in several art books at the library. Intrigued by the work of Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns in particular, Knuth started to regularly visit the variety of art museums across Minneapolis. 'There's a tremendous art community there that fed my curiosity. That's really where I discovered art.' Knuth then attended the University Of Minnesota, where he got a BFA in art, and worked under Mark Dion – a conceptual artist renowned for mixing art and science. 'He was my mentor. He showed me you can be really smart and an intellectual troublemaker, plus go out and drink beer and make a living as an international artist.' Knuth was first struck by the idea to work with flies in the buildup to the 2003 Iraq war. After reading that flies had been responsible for more human suffering than all wars, because of how they have spread malaria and numerous other diseases, Knuth initially wanted to create an anti-war piece by tying paper airplanes on to house flies to make his 'own little biological warfare air force'. As he explored this option, he noticed that flyspeck looked like little spots of paint. In 2005, Knuth continued his experimentation by feeding flies McDonald's and Taco Bell. But the results were just brown paintings. 'They were cool conceptual objects. But not beautiful artworks.' He also didn't have enough money to buy the number of flies he required to fulfill his vision. Then in 2013, Knuth was approached by the Museum Of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles to do a 'big production' of his fly paintings. The resulting video went viral. 'That moment made my career. Since then I've had shows around the world.' Knuth's fly paintings have been bought by multiple private art collectors and are also in the permanent collection at the Asheville Art Museum, North Carolina. The Hollis Taggart show marks Knuth's third solo exhibition in New York. After being approached by director Paul Efstathiou in February, Knuth devised the concept of the Hot Garden because he wanted to reflect what he and numerous artists had gone through with the Los Angeles fires. 'This was a generation changing event for my generation of artists. I literally know hundreds of artists that got hit by this. Five artists on my block alone lost their houses.' Since his work had always engaged with climate, bugs and life, it felt like a natural continuation to bring the fire into his paintings. For the titular piece of the exhibition, Knuth wanted to create 'distorted or distressed landscapes by pulling paint across the canvas to make fire motifs'. For the piece January 7, the day that Knuth watched his home burn down, he mixed red, lavender and green flyspeck to produce a 'dark and ominous' tone and visuals reminiscent of fire and smoke. While constructing his paintings, Knuth looked at Monet's use of color compositions in his lily paintings, while turning to warm colors, like oranges and yellows, because they represented heat. Knuth isn't just presenting his fly paintings at The Hot Garden. He's also exhibiting a sculptural installation, entitled The Sculpture Garden. It includes fragments of artworks recovered from his destroyed home, as well as pieces from other artists affected by the fire. Glenn Phillips, the director of the Getty Research Center, was so impressed that he's already bought two pieces for the Getty Museum. Including, This Is Our Pompeii, a New York Times article on the impact of the LA fires on local artists, covered in red flyspeck. While Knuth is delighted that the fly paintings have connected with art lovers and critics yet again, he can't help but get a little somber when asked if the exhibition has helped him process his trauma. 'Being busy helps. Having a reason to keep doing this helps. But all of my archive and retrospective is gone. That's the first 25 years of my career. My work was a way to engage in the world. Unfortunately the world engaged with me pretty intensely six months ago. There's just so much tragedy in the world that the news cycle moves on.' But as Knuth picks up the pieces for the next phase of his career, he's not straying too far away from the formula that has garnered him so much success. His new Pasadena studio is full of dead flies caught in fly traps hanging from the globe, giant fishhook sculptures, dead stuffed rattlesnakes painted red, and hundreds of black sea urchins in gold foil painted black. 'I'm 46 now, so hopefully I have another 25 years left to make up for what I lost.' The Hot Garden is on show at Hollis Taggart at 109 Norfolk Street in New York, New York until 16 August
CBS News
27-01-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Exhibit in Denver tells story of Filipino cowboys part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West
The history of William "Buffalo Bill" Cody here in Colorado extends all the way to the 1850s. His shows traveled the country in the late 19th century. What is perhaps lesser known is who was part of that show. Two University of Colorado Boulder professors, Yumi Janairo Roth and Emmanuel David, recently uncovered documents and photos that show a group of cowboys from more than 7,600 miles away joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West shows. A new exhibit in downtown Denver tells their story. Signs typically provide information or instructions. But the ones inside the David B Smith Gallery off Wazee Street tell a unique story. The signs, which are beautiful pieces of art, and are handmade from jeepney sign painters in Manila, Philippines. "A sign like this is probably a two-day sign, a sign like this is probably three or four days," said Roth, as she showed a CBS Colorado crew around the gallery. The exhibit is titled, "Last Year's Wonders All Surpassed." "It's about the untold story of the 'Filipino Rough Riders' in Buffalo Bill's Wild West," said David, an Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies at CU. "They were recruited at the end of the Spanish-American War as examples of the new colonies of the United States." The exhibit features 130 paintings and a video that tracks the group's touring locations throughout the U.S. in 1899. Buffalo Bill's show was also known worldwide. "It traveled for nearly 40 years, both in the United States and in Europe and it was viewed by all kinds of political figures, royalty. It was probably the most important Wild West show," said Roth, chair of the Department of Art and Art History at CU. One of the many takeaways from this exhibit is the historical aspect, said Roth. Originally it was a trio of Filipino Rough Riders. But it eventually increased to eight, said Roth. "Somebody might walk in here and go like, 'Oh, I'm from Algona, Iowa," said Roth, "And all-of-a-sudden, they create this connection between themselves and this group of Filipinos." It's believed that the Filipino Rough Riders were originally hired soon after the shadow of the Philippine-American War by Buffalo Bill as part of the "Congress of Rough Riders of the World." Not part of the exhibit, but part of the professor's research, is a picture showing the actual Filipino Rough Riders. It's one of the only pictures known to exist. On the back of the photo is a note, saying "Remember to Buffalo Bill's wild west, the Filipino group. October 1900." "The reporting would cast them as unskilled horse people, but they were also winning these relay races," said David. Both Yumi and Emmanuel originally wanted to explore more of the background of Filipino immigrants in Colorado. The two started reading newspapers from during that time period, doing research at the Denver Public Library. "From there we started digging, it kept on unraveling in the sense that we discovered more and more," said David. What it showed them was something beyond their expectations. "When you think of the American West, the last thing you think of are Filipinos somehow involved in ideas of the American West," said Roth. But their research showed that Filipinos were a part of that time period. It even led to both professors to dig more into Philippine ranching culture, which is believed to have come from the country's Spanish colonization for hundreds of years. "So, for more than a hundred years, there had been a ranching culture prior to the United States coming at various islands in the Philippines," said Roth. At the gallery in Denver, there are pictures of some of the ranchers from Masbate Island. Every year Filipinos from this region hold a yearly rodeo festival called "Rodeo Masbateno." It's shining a light on this group which would otherwise go unnoticed. "The media from the time cast them as primitive, savage. And the more we dug into the story, we saw that they have full, rich lives. They tried to keep ties to the Philippines," said David. The exhibit is open now and runs through Febr. 22 at the in Denver.
