The Los Angeles-based German artist Silke Otto-Knapp was known for enigmatic paintings of figures and landscapes.
Silke Otto-Knapp, an artist whose unusual technique of painting with layered watercolors on canvas to create large, enigmatic landscapes or figures in motion drew international attention over a career that spanned more than two decades, died Sunday morning at her home in Pasadena.
“In the waiting room ,” a monumental three-panel painting of seven figures that stretch, kneel, dance, sprawl and otherwise physically exert themselves, was shown last year in a Regen Projects exhibition. As with much of her work, the painting was made by laying down delicate layers of watercolor, some of which Otto-Knapp then washed with a sponge or swept away with a dry brush.Transparent paint soaked into the canvas weave, leaving visually elusive traces behind.
In 2011 she participated in open rehearsals in the Turbine Hall of London’s Tate Modern, where British choreographer Michael Clark was preparing a public performance with 50 amateur dancers. The piece, “TH,” incorporated a contemplative pop music soundtrack by David Bowie, Pulp and Kraftwerk, as well as a monochrome stage design. The bodies of dancers she encountered there found their way into Otto-Knapp’s paintings.
Born in Osnabrück, Germany, Otto-Knapp grew up on a dairy farm, which led to her deep interest in the natural world. She received a degree in cultural studies from the University of Hildesheim and a master of fine arts from the London school formerly called Chelsea College of Art and Design. Her first Los Angeles solo exhibitions were at Overduin and Kite Gallery in 2009 and 2013. She joined the faculty at UCLA as an associate professor of painting and drawing in 2015.
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