Rainen Knecht
Harpy Landing in Magnolia Tree, 2020
oil on canvas with artist frame
11 x 9 / 15 x 13 inches
Rainen Knecht
Visible worm, 2020
oil on linen with artist frame
14 x 11 / 18 x 15 inches
Rainen Knecht
Ophelia, 2020
oil on canvas with artist frame
9 x 11 / 13 x 15 inches
Rainen Knecht
Ontkommer with Birds around her face and in her hair, 2020
oil on linen with artist frame
14 x 11 / 18 x 15 inches
Rainen Knecht
Gorgones on a Sandspit, 2020
oil on linen with artist frame
11 x 14 / 15 x 18 inches
Rainen Knecht
Knee Deep in Yellow Wetsuit, 2020
oil on canvas with artist frame
11 x 9 / 15 x 13 inches
Rainen Knecht
Crone and Creature, 2020
oil on canvas with artist frame
14 x 11 / 18 x 15 inches
Rainen Knecht
Garbage Brain, 2020
oil on linen with artist frame
14 x 11 / 18 x 15 inches
Rainen Knecht
Minotaur’s Embrace, 2020
oil on canvas with artist frame
10 x 8 / 14 x 12 inches
Rainen Knecht
Mom in a World on Fire, 2020
oil on canvas with artist frame
14 x 11 / 18 x 15 inches
Rainen Knecht
The Jersey Devil’s Daughter, 2020
oil on linen with artist frame
12 x 16 / 16 x 18 inches
Rainen Knecht
Self Portrait with Freddie, 2020
oil on linen with artist frame
14 x 11 / 18 x 15 inches
Rainen Knecht
R U My Mother?
January 31 - March 2, 2021
Fourteen30 Contemporary is pleased to present R U My Mother?, our second solo exhibition with Portland based painter Rainen Knecht. All works within were created during the unprecedented last ten months, Knecht’s second year of motherhood, and continue the artist’s poignant painted polarities - a tension of repulsion and attraction. The gallery remains open by private appointment for the time being, and we are planning a closing reception for the exhibition on Sunday, March 7th.
Mother Mask has twigs in her hair
she is all eye that sometimes closes shut
stars on her eyelids, open are oceans
open are history movies, closed are
blue skies, pen are sorrow pain iris clarity events
I forgot if closed and open make any difference
-Alice Notely, “Mother Mask,” Homer’s Art
Drawing from fables, horror films, and folk costumes, Knecht’s scenes appear as if they’re from a fairytale - but instead of a damsel-in-distress, we find the central subjects taking on mischievous agency. Whether evil, awkward, or funny, the figures are emotionally unhinged – creating a complex psychological space that undermines expectations through a mystical re-working of familiar narratives. Within the exhibition R U My Mother, Knecht’s familiar figures focus on her newfound territory of Motherhood. The rich oil paintings on canvas and linen explore, in depth, both her loss of self and the loss of her own mother, all the while mothering her own daughter. Knecht gives equal weight to the beautiful and the grotesque, resulting in uncanny depictions of 2020 as a first time mother.
Rainen Knecht studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, graduating with a BFA in Painting in 2006. Knecht’s exhibition history includes solo and two-person exhibitions at Fourteen30 Contemporary (Portland, OR), SITUATIONS (New York, NY), and CAPITAL (San Francisco, CA) as well as group exhibitions at Various Small Fires (Los Angles, CA), Fisher Parrish (Brooklyn, NY), Stems Gallery (Brussels, BE), Royal Nonesuch Gallery (Oakland, CA), Either Way (Los Angeles, CA) and PMOMA (Portland, OR). Knecht is currently based in Portland, OR.
R U My Mother?
January 31 - March 2, 2021
Fourteen30 Contemporary is pleased to present R U My Mother?, our second solo exhibition with Portland based painter Rainen Knecht. All works within were created during the unprecedented last ten months, Knecht’s second year of motherhood, and continue the artist’s poignant painted polarities - a tension of repulsion and attraction. The gallery remains open by private appointment for the time being, and we are planning a closing reception for the exhibition on Sunday, March 7th.
Mother Mask has twigs in her hair
she is all eye that sometimes closes shut
stars on her eyelids, open are oceans
open are history movies, closed are
blue skies, pen are sorrow pain iris clarity events
I forgot if closed and open make any difference
-Alice Notely, “Mother Mask,” Homer’s Art
Drawing from fables, horror films, and folk costumes, Knecht’s scenes appear as if they’re from a fairytale - but instead of a damsel-in-distress, we find the central subjects taking on mischievous agency. Whether evil, awkward, or funny, the figures are emotionally unhinged – creating a complex psychological space that undermines expectations through a mystical re-working of familiar narratives. Within the exhibition R U My Mother, Knecht’s familiar figures focus on her newfound territory of Motherhood. The rich oil paintings on canvas and linen explore, in depth, both her loss of self and the loss of her own mother, all the while mothering her own daughter. Knecht gives equal weight to the beautiful and the grotesque, resulting in uncanny depictions of 2020 as a first time mother.
Rainen Knecht studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, graduating with a BFA in Painting in 2006. Knecht’s exhibition history includes solo and two-person exhibitions at Fourteen30 Contemporary (Portland, OR), SITUATIONS (New York, NY), and CAPITAL (San Francisco, CA) as well as group exhibitions at Various Small Fires (Los Angles, CA), Fisher Parrish (Brooklyn, NY), Stems Gallery (Brussels, BE), Royal Nonesuch Gallery (Oakland, CA), Either Way (Los Angeles, CA) and PMOMA (Portland, OR). Knecht is currently based in Portland, OR.