Ten year digital artist, foundational member of the NFT community and former head of 3D design for Nike, Chad Knight is showing his work at GR gallery in “Two Week Notice”, his first solo exhibition at GR Gallery. The show reveals 12 fresh digital artworks on canvas, encapsulated in epoxy resin, and 3 “Meural Canvas” flat screens displaying the same number of dynamic NFTs.
Featuring his newest series “Digital Renaissance”, the exhibition aims to instruct the viewer on the limitless possibilities of the Metaverse by generating an ambitious visual concept, set utterly free from the rules and speculations that define our physical nature, able to unleash unknown potentials and to generate new cultural icons.
It seems as though everyone is talking about the Metaverse these days, but Chad Knight is actually visualizing what very few have been able to even put into words.
These compositions appear like empowering and revealing hallucinations, slightly familiar at a first sight but capable of breaking our time loop at a deeper level.
The Metaverse is a new digital world that allows artists, creators, and builders to achieve recognition for their work–and for capitalism-driven corporations to capitalize on this concept. Traditionally only analog artwork was recognized by the fine art community as having any value but Two Week Notice celebrates this digital renaissance that we are experiencing. With the recent birth of NFTs and the cryptoart community, digital artists have finally been able to emerge from the subculture and enter a new era of mass culture, while also gaining respect (finally) from prestigious art and practice establishments.
The title of this exhibition is in reference to Chad Knight being a 10+ year digital artist but just recently putting in his two week notice at Nike to become a full time creator. His work went viral in 2017 and caused an internet rumor that his 3D fountain, ‘Release’, was actually a real life place in Japan. As former head of 3D Design at Nike, Knight is no stranger to working in the digital world and uses Cinema 4D to create high detail sculptures that push the limits of physics.
Ever since entering the Metaverse, Chad has planted himself as a key member of the NFT community, creating 3D collections with Vogue Singapore, Singer Freddie Mercury, and DJ Dillon Francis. For all of you tech nerds, he has recently become head of Cyberwear for Wilder World, a 5D metaverse built on Unreal Engine. And on top of all of that, Chad Knight retired from an exciting career as a professional skateboarder that ran from 1998-2011. He rode for Maple and 1031.
Chad Knight appreciation post now over. Go see his incredible work at GR Gallery in NYC.
