R U My Mother?

January 31 - March 2, 2021

FOURTEEN30 CONTEMPORARY
1501 SW Market Street
Portland, Oregon 97201


Fourteen30 Contemporary is pleased to present R U My Mother?, our second solo exhibition with Portland based painter Rainen Knecht. All works within were created during the unprecedented last ten months, Knecht’s second year of motherhood, and continue the artist’s poignant painted polarities - a tension of repulsion and attraction. The gallery remains open by private appointment for the time being, and we are planning a closing reception for the exhibition on Sunday, March 7th.

Mother Mask has twigs in her hair
she is all eye that sometimes closes shut
stars on her eyelids, open are oceans
open are history movies, closed are
blue skies, pen are sorrow pain iris clarity events
I forgot if closed and open make any difference
-Alice Notely, “Mother Mask,” Homer’s Art

Drawing from fables, horror films, and folk costumes, Knecht’s scenes appear as if they’re from a fairytale - but instead of a damsel-in-distress, we find the central subjects taking on mischievous agency. Whether evil, awkward, or funny, the figures are emotionally unhinged – creating a complex psychological space that undermines expectations through a mystical re-working of familiar narratives. Within the exhibition R U My Mother, Knecht’s familiar figures focus on her newfound territory of Motherhood. The rich oil paintings on canvas and linen explore, in depth, both her loss of self and the loss of her own mother, all the while mothering her own daughter. Knecht gives equal weight to the beautiful and the grotesque, resulting in uncanny depictions of 2020 as a first time mother.

Rainen Knecht studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, graduating with a BFA in Painting in 2006. Knecht’s exhibition history includes solo and two-person exhibitions at Fourteen30 Contemporary (Portland, OR), SITUATIONS (New York, NY), and CAPITAL (San Francisco, CA) as well as group exhibitions at Various Small Fires (Los Angles, CA), Fisher Parrish (Brooklyn, NY), Stems Gallery (Brussels, BE), Royal Nonesuch Gallery (Oakland, CA), Either Way (Los Angeles, CA) and PMOMA (Portland, OR). Knecht is currently based in Portland, OR.