Rolf Knie, Swiss b.1949  Drei Clowns, 1983

Mixed Media  53 x 43 cm Framed

About the artist and his work: Rolf Knie, the son of Pierrette Dubois and Fredy Knie (senior), director of the Swiss National Circus, belongs to the sixth generation of the famous circus dynasty. After completing compulsory schooling, he enrolled in business school in Zurich in 1966, but dropped out early. From 1968 onwards, he was an artist with Circus Knie, performing as an equestrian and animal trainer, and later as a clown. He became friends with cabaret artist Emil Steinberger during his guest tour in 1977. Hans Falk, who intensively explored the subject of circus art from 1977 to 1980 and accompanied the National Circus on its tours, provided the self-taught painter with essential artistic inspiration. In 1980, he held his first solo exhibition in Zurich and published his first graphic edition. Two years later, he made his acting debut in the television film Hotel, for which he was awarded the Chaplin Prize at the Festival de la Rose d’Or in Montreux. In 1984 he finally left his family's circus and became a freelance artist, also an award-winning stage and television actor until 1989. In 1987 he met Jean Tinguely. The highly acclaimed exhibition in Paris on the Eiffel Tower in 1991 was followed by exhibitions worldwide, including in Monte Carlo in 1992 and in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Mexico City in 1993. He was named Swiss Artist of the Year at the German Media Prize in 1995. In the same year he showed a retrospective of his work to date under the title Hälfte/Mi-temps at the Comptoir Suisse in Lausanne and in Baden, which since the early 1990s has also included objects and a monumental iron sculpture created in collaboration with the Spanish artist Miguel Sarasate. In 1996 he took part in the Arts Festival in Singapore. Rolf Knie has lived and worked in Arta on Mallorca and in St. Gallenkappel since 1988.