‘The p o em’ reads broken black text fixed to a featureless white wall. It instantly grabs the viewer's attention thanks to its striking simplicity before the realisation that three more letters: ‘r’, ‘b’ and ‘l’ are lying on the floor below the work entitled The Solution. It’s the work of Anatol Knotek, an Austrian artist whose Text Objects exhibition captured our minds this week.
Anatol Knotek is a colourblind artist whose creative wordplay looks to make an impact with a dark sense of humour. Knotek swaps the typical elements of fine art – colour and texture, for example – for the simplicity of letters. It’s the simplicity of his works that amplifies the wit and creativity of the series.
Using common sayings and buzzwords, Anatol Knotek asks the viewer to reconsider their preconceptions or accepted definitions, offering a new standpoint on evergreen topics and questions of the moment.
Moving from colour paintings to a reduced colour palette at a young age due to his red-green colour blindness, Anatol Knotek slowly began honing his art. The artist eventually developed a style that revolved around newspaper headlines and text cuttings, beginning an ongoing fascination with the power of words and therefore the equal power of altering those words.
The minimal style of Knotek’s work is a conscious move to emphasise the tension within the words used. Using Helvetica Neue as his basic font thanks to its neutrality, the artist aims to remove any attention from any aspect of the work other than the pithy wordplay.
Keep up to date with Anatol Knotek on Instagram.
Peytil's Zodiac Collection opts for a similarly minimal style to make its impact.
