Solange Knopf: An Art of Hallucination and Healing

First published: Winter 2014

It is no secret that many works of art can be characterised by a powerful therapeutic aspect, which functions as much for the people who create them as it does for those who view them. Even photographic reproductions of pre-historic, cave-wall paintings can pack a potent, psychic-emotional punch.

Behind the Darkness No. 1, 2013, mixed media on paper, 28.74 x 31.1 ins., 73 x 79 cm

For the Belgian self-taught artist Solange Knopf, making art has been a soul-soothing, inexplicably rewarding activity. As she plainly states, producing her art has given her a fulfilling sense of personal identity, something she sorely lacked until well into adulthood.

Humble in the face of the mysterious nature of artistic, creative energy – her own or that of any other art-maker – Knopf says she is awed by the thought of where it comes from and how, through her own efforts, it is released. A little bit world-weary and admittedly somewhat timid or cautious by nature, Knopf is a contemporary woman who has experienced some of modern life’s typical but still daunting tribulations – and emerged stronger and more self-aware as a result of those unsettling episodes.

This is an article extract; read the full article in Raw Vision #84