Mark Armijo McKnight: Decreation

Through Jan 12

White clouds against a black background, with one large cloud on the right and a smaller one on the left.
White clouds against a black background, with one large cloud on the right and a smaller one on the left.

Mark Armijo McKnight, Clouds (Decreation), 2024. Gelatin silver print, 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm). Courtesy the artist. © Mark Armijo McKnight

On view
Floor 1, Free Lobby Gallery

Open: Aug 24, 2024–Jan 12, 2025

Mark Armijo McKnight: Decreation features new and recent black-and-white photographs by Mark Armijo McKnight (b. 1984, Los Angeles, California; lives in New York, New York) and focuses on his ongoing body of work, “Decreation.” The concept, originated by the French philosopher, activist, and mystic Simone Weil (1909–1943), describes an intentional undoing of the self, a process Armijo McKnight explores in images of bodies and landscapes in intermediate states, such as anonymous nude figures engaged in erotic play amidst harsh environments. These photographs convey a sense of both ecstasy and affliction. A new 16mm film in the gallery plays a cacophonous symphony of gradually unwinding metronomes set within the dramatic geological formations of the Bisti Badlands/De-Na-Zin Wilderness in New Mexico. Two large limestone sculptures, which double as seating, suggest the forms of a pair of ancient sundials. As a whole, Decreation simultaneously evokes tumult and quietude, darkness and light, isolation and togetherness.  

This exhibition is on view in the Lobby gallery, accessible to the public free of charge as part of the Whitney Museum’s enduring commitment to supporting and showcasing emerging artists’ most recent work.

Mark Armijo McKnight: Decreation is organized by Drew Sawyer, Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography, with Nakai Falcón, Curatorial Assistant.

Review accessibility information before visiting Mark Armijo McKnight: Decreation.

Generous support for Mark Armijo McKnight: Decreation is provided by the John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation.

Additional support is provided by David and Carol Aronowitz, David Dechman and Michel Mercure, Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia, and Graham Steele.

Back

4 / 4

Previous Next

Without a Song, 2024

4

Without a Song (solo ii) , 2024

A black and white image of a metronome with its pendulum in motion, showing tempo markings on the front scale.
A black and white image of a metronome with its pendulum in motion, showing tempo markings on the front scale.

Mark Armijo McKnight, Without a Song (solo ii) , 2024. 16mm film transferred to video, black and white, sound; 11:19 min. Courtesy the artist. © Mark Armijo McKnight

Inspired by the Hungarian composer György Ligeti’s Poème symphonique (1962), a composition for one hundred metronomes, this film features dozens of the mechanical devices set amid the dramatic geological formations of the Bisti Badlands/De-Na-Zin Wilderness in New Mexico, Armijo McKnight’s maternal homeland. The metronomes which make repeated clicking sounds at different tempos, evoke a choir or a chattering crowd of competing voices or ideologies. As the devices slowly wind down, the film descends sonically into the stillness of the majestic landscape, suggesting ecological precariousness, the transience of human existence, or the contradictory demands of speech and silence. 

Armijo McKnight often cites as an influence the French philosopher Simone Weil, who believed that the onerous act of eclipsing one’s own ego—becoming silent—allows for a more attentive and compassionate way of being in the world. She wrote: “If only I could see a landscape as it is when I am not there. But when I am in any place I disturb the silence of heaven by the beating of my heart.”

Events

View all

Audio guides

White clouds against a black background, with one large cloud on the right and a smaller one on the left.
White clouds against a black background, with one large cloud on the right and a smaller one on the left.

Mark Armijo McKnight, Clouds (Decreation), 2024. Gelatin silver print, 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm). Courtesy the artist. © Mark Armijo McKnight

Hear directly from artists and curators on selected works from the exhibition.

View guide

On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

On the Hour projects can contain motion and sound. To respect your accessibility settings autoplay is disabled.