WOBBLY WONKY at home
ART RESIDENCY
14 days… work! work! work.
#this is me:
Manuela Karin Knaut
Day 2 – Leaving the Canvas
Today I finally settled into the space. I set up my worktable, painted the wall white, and truly began.
It felt surprisingly strange not to hold a paintbrush. Every canvas has disappeared from the studio. It feels weird… and at the same time incredibly liberating.
As I started exploring the first materials, my thoughts suddenly drifted to Franz West, whose work has fascinated me for years. For a moment I caught myself wondering if I might end up building something that carries a little of his spirit over the next few days.
What I’ve realized today is that I’ve been longing for sculptural work.
But don’t hold me to that.
I promised to take you with me through every experiment, every wrong turn, every unexpected discovery. If it all fails, that’s part of the process too.
So let’s wait for Day 3 together. I honestly have no idea where this journey will lead—and that’s exactly what makes it so exciting.
@knaut_contemporary @wobblywonkyathomeartresid
ency #wonky #art #contemporarysculptor
WOBBLY WONKY at home
ART RESIDENCY
14 days… work! work! work.
#this is me:
Manuela Karin Knaut
Day 2 – Leaving the Canvas
Today I finally settled into the space. I set up my worktable, painted the wall white, and truly began.
It felt surprisingly strange not to hold a paintbrush. Every canvas has disappeared from the studio. It feels weird… and at the same time incredibly liberating.
As I started exploring the first materials, my thoughts suddenly drifted to Franz West, whose work has fascinated me for years. For a moment I caught myself wondering if I might end up building something that carries a little of his spirit over the next few days.
What I’ve realized today is that I’ve been longing for sculptural work.
But don’t hold me to that.
I promised to take you with me through every experiment, every wrong turn, every unexpected discovery. If it all fails, that’s part of the process too.
So let’s wait for Day 3 together. I honestly have no idea where this journey will lead—and that’s exactly what makes it so exciting.
@knaut_contemporary @wobblywonkyathomeartresid
ency #wonky #art #contemporarysculptor
**Day 1 — **Leaving the Canvas⤵️
Today marks the beginning of ▪️Leaving the Canvas▪️, my two-week self-directed artist residency.
Before anything else, I’d like to thank Alfredo @alfredocristianoartist for our inspiring conversation and for trusting this open-ended project. That uncertainty is exactly what makes it exciting.
For the next fourteen days, my studio will become a laboratory.
Today is not about making art, but about preparing the conditions for it. Large canvases are moved aside, shelves are cleared, and materials usually in the background are brought to the centre: wood, concrete, wire, cardboard, paper, concrete, fragments and discarded objects.
Over the coming days, I will explore what happens when painting leaves the canvas. I’ll build, stack, cut, connect, balance and dismantle. Some ideas will become temporary objects, others may evolve into sculptural works. Many experiments will fail or be abandoned quickly.
The process itself becomes the work.
Every step—successful or not—will be documented through photographs, sketches and daily reflections. Rather than searching for finished artworks, I want to follow rhythm, intuition and material until they suggest their own possibilities.
I don’t know what will emerge over the next fourteen days—and that’s exactly why I’d love you to follow the journey. Pls follow! 🩷
#LeavingTheCanvas #ArtistResidency #MaterialResearch #StudioLaboratory #contemporaryart
**Day 1 — **Leaving the Canvas⤵️
Today marks the beginning of ▪️Leaving the Canvas▪️, my two-week self-directed artist residency.
Before anything else, I’d like to thank Alfredo @alfredocristianoartist for our inspiring conversation and for trusting this open-ended project. That uncertainty is exactly what makes it exciting.
For the next fourteen days, my studio will become a laboratory.
Today is not about making art, but about preparing the conditions for it. Large canvases are moved aside, shelves are cleared, and materials usually in the background are brought to the centre: wood, concrete, wire, cardboard, paper, concrete, fragments and discarded objects.
Over the coming days, I will explore what happens when painting leaves the canvas. I’ll build, stack, cut, connect, balance and dismantle. Some ideas will become temporary objects, others may evolve into sculptural works. Many experiments will fail or be abandoned quickly.
The process itself becomes the work.
Every step—successful or not—will be documented through photographs, sketches and daily reflections. Rather than searching for finished artworks, I want to follow rhythm, intuition and material until they suggest their own possibilities.
I don’t know what will emerge over the next fourteen days—and that’s exactly why I’d love you to follow the journey. Pls follow! 🩷
#LeavingTheCanvas #ArtistResidency #MaterialResearch #StudioLaboratory #contemporaryart
“Chaiselongue” 🍓
A painting that has taken the long way home.
Layer upon layer, traces of earlier decisions remain visible—evidence of months spent searching, covering, revealing, and beginning again. Every mark carries the memory of what came before, allowing the final image to emerge slowly and with intention.
Today, I’m delighted to introduce “Chaiselongue.”
The title is a quiet tribute to the special chaise longue that stood in my grandmother’s kitchen. After long days of work, she would occasionally rest there. Even now, I imagine it carrying the scent of freshly baked cakes, ripe fruit gently simmering into homemade jam, and the warmth of endless summer afternoons.
Whenever I look at this painting, those memories return. It holds a sense of stillness, yet at the same time the vibrant energy of long June days—when time seems to slow down and everything feels beautifully alive.
Created with acrylic, oil, ink and spray paint on unprimed canvas, “Chaiselongue” embraces the visible history of its making. Rather than concealing its evolution, the work celebrates it—inviting the viewer to discover fragments of earlier gestures beneath the final composition.
165 × 190 cm
Acrylic, oil, ink & spray paint on unprimed canvas
The work is now available.
#ContemporaryArt #AbstractPainting #ArtCollectors #CuratorialVision #PaintingOfTheDay
“Chaiselongue” 🍓
A painting that has taken the long way home.
Layer upon layer, traces of earlier decisions remain visible—evidence of months spent searching, covering, revealing, and beginning again. Every mark carries the memory of what came before, allowing the final image to emerge slowly and with intention.
Today, I’m delighted to introduce “Chaiselongue.”
The title is a quiet tribute to the special chaise longue that stood in my grandmother’s kitchen. After long days of work, she would occasionally rest there. Even now, I imagine it carrying the scent of freshly baked cakes, ripe fruit gently simmering into homemade jam, and the warmth of endless summer afternoons.
Whenever I look at this painting, those memories return. It holds a sense of stillness, yet at the same time the vibrant energy of long June days—when time seems to slow down and everything feels beautifully alive.
Created with acrylic, oil, ink and spray paint on unprimed canvas, “Chaiselongue” embraces the visible history of its making. Rather than concealing its evolution, the work celebrates it—inviting the viewer to discover fragments of earlier gestures beneath the final composition.
165 × 190 cm
Acrylic, oil, ink & spray paint on unprimed canvas
The work is now available.
#ContemporaryArt #AbstractPainting #ArtCollectors #CuratorialVision #PaintingOfTheDay
With Europe in the middle of a heatwave, we’re all dreaming of a cool breeze. This little place by the sea is exactly where I’d love to be right now.
By the Sea
45 × 45 × 3 cm
Wishing you all a cool head today. Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are. 🌊
#ContemporaryArt #AbstractPainting #ByTheSea #SummerMood #ArtCollectors
With Europe in the middle of a heatwave, we’re all dreaming of a cool breeze. This little place by the sea is exactly where I’d love to be right now.
By the Sea
45 × 45 × 3 cm
Wishing you all a cool head today. Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are. 🌊
#ContemporaryArt #AbstractPainting #ByTheSea #SummerMood #ArtCollectors
The Botanist 🌸 100/80 cm
I have always loved living with a large garden—even though I rarely have enough time to care for it the way it deserves.
For me, it is a place of stillness. A place to recharge, to slow down, and to stay close to the quiet miracles of nature.
I loved it as a child, and I still do today.
Perhaps that’s why flowers keep finding their way into my paintings.
The Botanist is a celebration of that lifelong connection—a reminder that beauty grows where we take the time to truly look.
#TheBotanist #ContemporaryArt #BotanicalInspiration #AbstractPainting #NatureLover
The Botanist 🌸 100/80 cm
I have always loved living with a large garden—even though I rarely have enough time to care for it the way it deserves.
For me, it is a place of stillness. A place to recharge, to slow down, and to stay close to the quiet miracles of nature.
I loved it as a child, and I still do today.
Perhaps that’s why flowers keep finding their way into my paintings.
The Botanist is a celebration of that lifelong connection—a reminder that beauty grows where we take the time to truly look.
#TheBotanist #ContemporaryArt #BotanicalInspiration #AbstractPainting #NatureLover
Japanese Silence
My travels through Japan continue to return to me in unexpected ways.
Not as direct images or memories, but as a sensibility — an attention to space, stillness, light, and what remains unsaid.
Years later, I still find myself deeply moved by the aesthetics I encountered there: the balance between presence and absence, the quiet power of restraint, and the beauty that emerges when space is allowed to breathe.
These impressions have become part of my visual language. They surface again and again in my paintings, often without intention, as traces of places that continue to resonate long after the journey has ended.
“Were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty.”
— Jun’ichirō Tanizaki
Japanese Silence
180 × 140 × 4 cm
#ContemporaryArt #AbstractPainting #JapaneseAesthetics #NegativeSpace #artcollector
Japanese Silence
My travels through Japan continue to return to me in unexpected ways.
Not as direct images or memories, but as a sensibility — an attention to space, stillness, light, and what remains unsaid.
Years later, I still find myself deeply moved by the aesthetics I encountered there: the balance between presence and absence, the quiet power of restraint, and the beauty that emerges when space is allowed to breathe.
These impressions have become part of my visual language. They surface again and again in my paintings, often without intention, as traces of places that continue to resonate long after the journey has ended.
“Were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty.”
— Jun’ichirō Tanizaki
Japanese Silence
180 × 140 × 4 cm
#ContemporaryArt #AbstractPainting #JapaneseAesthetics #NegativeSpace #artcollector