One to Watch
Gala Knörr
Gala Knörr is an emerging artist from Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. She earned her BFA in Fine Arts from Parsons The New School for Design in Paris; she later received her MFA from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design.
Her artwork and photography have been published and covered by ELPAIS, CRUSH Fanzine, and Champ Magazine. In 2010, Knörr won the prestigious emerging art award Emergencias 2.0 from La Casa Encendida and Caja Madrid. She was selected for the Threadneedle Prize in 2014. After establishing her studio in East London through Cell Projects, she was one of the 3000 artists crowd-sourced by Nicola Formichetti (DIESEL) to be exhibited at Galeries Lafayette in Paris.
Knörr was awarded an artist residency during the 50th year anniversary at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, and joined the ranks of previous residents including Louise Bourgeois, Philippe Parreno, and Serge Gainsbourg.
Her artworks’ main focus is interconnectivity and the desire of belonging within modern subculture; she explores youth underground culture and the many different ways we communicate and seek constant validation in today’s society.
What are the major themes you pursue in your work?
My work has always had a certain spirit connected to contemporary subculture. I am interested in what the young generation of today will feel and endure in the future, in our hopes, our hopelessness, our highs, our lows, and what connects us to each other as people.
What was the best advice given to you as an artist?
Never stop, stay honest and be truthful to what you do; accept the possibility of growth and disregard the bullshit and negative criticism.
There is also something I took from Ze Frank (online performance artist) when he started making videos again. He mentioned how when the ones we love fail or disappoint us we still give them chances and see the best in themwe should extend that generosity to ourselves as well.
Prefer to work with music or in silence?
Sometimes when I am in the zone I am okay with silence, but I am definitely stimulated by the poetry of music.
If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?
Wilder Shores of Love by Cy Twombly.
Who are your favorite writers?
I have always been enamored by the whole Lost and Beat Generation; I have always wanted to travel and live honestly, intensely, and dangerously like Ernest Hemingway, and dance around the streets of Paris intoxicated by the art and the charm of the city like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. Soon after I realized that the women in those books were powerful but yet peripheral as part of their movement, I decided to part ways with what lit my spark for the arts and find myself as an artist.
