BIO
Los Angeles -based Australian Adam Knott (38) has travelled the world as an award winning portrait and fine art photographer, working for the most respected magazines and corporations, photographing everyone from world leaders to major Hollywood celebrities. Knott’s fine art photography has received critical acclaim in both private and public art galleries.
His bold and dynamic portraits of people such as Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela, Jeff Bridges, Shirley Maclaine and Hilary Duff, to name a few, have had prominent placement in magazines such as Stern(Ger), Glamour(Ger), The Independant(UK), People(US), Entertainment Weekly(US), Marie Claire(AUS) and Vibe(US).
Knott’s offbeat, humorous and sometimes dark fine art work has landed him many coveted commercial/ advertising assignments for clients such as News Corp, Kodak, Time Warner, and World Vision.
His work has appeared in major exhibitions in Australia including shows at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) and the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW). With the success of his solo show ‘Bondi’, four pieces were chosen to be part of the permanent collection at Australia’s most respected public art gallery- The Art Gallery of New South Wales(AGNSW) and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) also purchased his work for their permanent collection.
He believes his unique vision stems from his early years as a classically trained painter in the ways of the Renaissance masters and his lifelong goal of using strong, dynamic imagery to provoke thought and emotion within the viewer.
Knott also combines his portrait and fine art skills for use in photojournalism assignments where his high energy and compassion for the subject result in an original perspective. This work has taken him to the student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, China, the struggle of HIV positive orphans in Romania, retrospectives of the Nazi Concentration camps in Poland, and the tragedies of Vietnamese refugee camps in Hong Kong.
Adam Knott has been based in Los Angeles for ten years and he lives with his wonderful wife Erin and his pet crab Charlie.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My goal is to stimulate not manipulate.
I want to provoke thought and emotion through simple, offbeat imagery.
Whether it’s a photograph of a Romanian orphan or a humorous picture depicting our culture’s obsession with beauty, my aim is to make you feel something when looking at my work.
I believe images are one of the greatest influences on society. However, more often than not they are used in a negative way.
The average person sees at least 3000 images every day... driving down the street, in the newspaper, on television. We are bombarded by meaningless images... some harmless and others that reinforce negative attitudes towards women and other members of society.
Looking further into Adam Knott's work I realised how much I love his style of photography, the high contrast black and white images, the texture, the blur and the emotion. I picked out these two specific images because they seem so emotional and I feel I can relate to them. Although he doesn't work with self-portraiture he brings out feelings and reactions like I want to achieve.
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