TED KNERR "In a Spiritual Place"
The purpose of my art is to enliven the spirit. To change one's life by adding more mystery, joy and profundity. To strengthen the realization that we all come from one universal source.
Kandinsky and Mondrian were drawn to abstraction to express their spirit more fully than traditional art encourages. Avoiding pictures of people, things and their stories, abstraction allows spirit to be directly embodied in the art, not added to what is at least partly a narrative. Instead of illustrating spiritual ideas, their abstract paintings were direct manifestations of spiritual energy,sharply clear,splendid and joyous. In our materialistic age this remains a radical concept. While abstraction is central to these expressions of spirit,many realist artists also attain them through the plastic structure of their work. Thomas Merton said "The true symbol does not merely point to something else. It contains in itself a structure which awakens our consciousness to a new awareness of the inner meaning of life and of reality itself."
In creating my art I try to let go of control, to allow outside influences to take over. When I am able to be a pipeline for these forces, my work exceeds what I can normally accomplish and acquires greater presence. To quote Rumi, "Do you think I know what I' m doing? No more than a pen know what it is writing."
I believe my art embodies states of being. A world where body,mind and spirit are one. They are sometimes difficult to grasp,but i find it beneficial to return quietly and openly to let their radiance inspire me.
Ted Knerr studied sculpture at Tyler school of fine in Philadelphia,PA,while concurrently earning a BS degree in engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He later enrolled in the Industrial Design Masters Program at Pratt Institute,Brooklyn,NY and worked for many years as a product and graphics designer with Henry Dreyfuss,Bill Plumb and Bevilaqua/McCroskery, to support his work as a fine artist. From 1965-1970 he taught in the sculpture department at the Philadelphia College of Art, now the University of Arts. In 1975 he began focusing on painting,prints and photography.
In 1968 he had a one person show a painted abstract sculpture constructions at the Oakland University Art Gallery,Rochester,ML. He then joined the Vanderlip Gallery in Philadelphia,where he had solo sculpture shows in 1968 and 1969. In 1970 he had solo shows of folded polyethylene floor and wall sculptures at Cheltenham Art Centre, Phila. And the Phila. College of Art.
Group shows include many at the Atlantic Gallery, NYC,1995-2008; Ok Harris Gallery,NYC, "Funk and Phenomena", 1970; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Phila., PA 1967; Philadelphia College of Art, 1966; Fiener Gallery, NYC, 1966; Silvermine Guild, Norwalk, CT, and the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, 1965.
In 1999 he created Art-spirit.net to exhibit his art and that of many friends. Contents include: quotes, philosophy, essays, books, links, poems and a free cooperative game. It has grown to over 900 pages and 9,300 monthly visits.
Selected collections include: JPMorgan-Chase Bank, NYC; Oakland University Art Gallery, Rochester, MI; Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY; and many private collections.
