Tycjan Knut. On Formality
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From February 12 to March 7 2026, the Milan spaces of Cadogan Gallery host On Formality, a solo exhibition by the Polish artist Tycjan Knut (Warsaw, 1985), who on this occasion presents a new group of works in which he explores form by pushing it beyond the limits of the square and the frame.
Moving away from traditional formats, Knut produces his works on custom-made, asymmetrical-shaped canvases, transforming the support itself into an active element that destabilizes the conventional relationship between figure and background, introducing moments of pause, ambiguity, and spatial tension.
The new works exhibited in On Formality speak of painting as a place of negotiation rather than resolution, where limits are tested, form is suspended, and the act of looking expands.
The paintings were realized over the course of several months spent in isolation in the Polish countryside, in a village called Dry Forest, a remote location lacking an internet connection; this deliberate distancing allowed Knut to engage with conceptual themes such as structure, process, and duration. In this context, his painting practice is configured as an exercise in reduction and attention, in which minimal deviations acquire meaning and the tension between control and dissolution remains suspended.
The artist himself states: “in painting, I try to rely completely on intuition, because in its essence it seems to me the purest form. To cultivate this quality in my work, I renounce every form of preparation.” For his works, he draws inspiration from twentieth-century geometric abstract art, in particular from lesser-known masters; his works resonate with this tradition but go beyond its boundaries, free from the constraints of formula and beyond historical trends of reference.
Many of his works are constructed from overlapping, extremely thin and airbrushed lines, developed through a process closer to textile construction than to painterly gesture: here form is not asserted, but accumulated, emerging gradually from repetition and density. Subtle tonal variations and almost imperceptible shifts generate surfaces that appear silent and controlled, while maintaining a latent sense of movement and creating a continuous spatial illusion.
Tycjan Knut. On Formality
February 12 - March 7, 2026
Cadogan Gallery | Via Bramante 5, Milan