The Ken Knight exhibition is on the walls. We've just finished hanging these brilliant works and the result is beautiful. Individually, every one of these paintings is a masterpiece and to see them together in the gallery, ready for tonights exhibition, is a wonderful sight. Ken will be at the show and happy to talk about his work. Drinks will be served from 5:30pm and the Sofitel Wentworth Sydney will be providing canapes. The exhibition will run until July 3rd.

"For Ken, painting outside is a deeply emotional and necessary experience for capturing the essence and spirit of the scenes he depicts in his en plein air masterpieces. His inspiration comes from the great outdoor painters, the impressionists from Turner through to Monet, and from Australians like Streeton and Boyd.

Ironically, in a country desperately short of life’s most precious commodity, there’s plenty of water in his work. From beaches, rivers and harbour-side shores to snow capped mountains and in the starkly beautiful, yet subtle and muted golden hues of hinterlands, plains and tablelands. His images are as Australian as all get-out. And it’s these images of the faces of the dry continent that Ken simplifies by gentle abstraction to produce very modern impressions of the land.

He paints quickly but surely, not wanting to concentrate on the detail, less it inherit a photographic quality in his eye and hence his brush. Rather, he imbues his elements with passion, emotion and a love for the landscape that has become his raison d’être and an integral part of himself.

He’ll blur lines, soften edges and abstract elements to leave the work open for an interpretation that the viewer can call his or her own. This is his art."

- Stan d’Argeavel MA (Visual Arts) ANU