George McKnight

My pieces in this exhibition are focused on fantastical architecture. For me, and in the context of my works, fantastical architecture is any architecture that induces a feeling of awe and wonder. The majority of my pieces were influenced by fictional architecture, in most instances castles, cities, and the landscapes around them, however, there are still real-life and modern edifices that are able to instigate the same emotions as the fictional ones, like Notre Dame or the church corner piece. So to me, fantastical architecture is not just fictional, but any and all architecture that makes me marvel and becomes filled with awe from their grand scale and majesty.

My first inspiration for this theme and exhibition was the exposure that I’ve had to fantastical architecture in my childhood and as I have grown up, in the movies I’ve watched, the books I’ve read, the art I’ve seen, and the video games that I have played -they have all inspired me with love and awe for art and architecture, and they have all been a revelation and an inspiration for these works that I have made.

In my exhibition, the works that I have selected show the range and variety of fantastical architecture that has meaning to me, reflecting the various genres, mediums, and scales of different fantastical architecture, which can go from huge ancient cities built to the side of a mountain, to huge religious edifices built hundreds of years ago, to modern churches that have been built on the corner of a city block.

I have arranged the chosen pieces for this presentation, arranged from left to right, starting with my collection of pieces that have been inspired by the films The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Minas Tirith and Dark Citadel. The Lord of the RIngs was my favorite movie as a child,  and they were what first introduced me to art and architecture, because of the grand cities, castles,  and fortresses that were featured throughout the films. They had not introduced me to making art yet, merely viewing and consuming it. What did introduce me to creating art brings me to the next group of pieces, Dragon Shrine, Lothric, and Notre Dam.

While I had been introduced to art by The Lord of the Rings films, I was inspired by real-life architecture, like Notre Dame, and architecture in the game series Dark Souls, to start making my own art and creating things for myself. The inspiration for this group of pieces was secondary to involving me in art and architecture, which is why I have placed these pieces to the right of the first group in chronological order. 

The last group of pieces, City Corner, Palm Tower, and Turtleback city, are a final product and result of my immersion into art from the first two groups of inspirations - the inspiration for the first group of pieces introduced me to art, the inspirations for the second group of pieces helped me to practice art, and inspiration for the last pieces led me to fully realize my ambitions and talents for design, art, and architecture.

The overall image that I want to create with this exhibition is to show the viewer the wonder and inspiration that I feel when I see fantastical architecture, and that fantastical architecture in this exhibition is set in chronological order of how each piece inspired me throughout my life.