About Graham Knuttel
Graham Knuttel was born in Dublin, in March 1954. His parents came to Ireland in 1947 from Bedford, England. Graham was the youngest child of three and a gap of ten years between his siblings meant that he was largely left to his own devises. He would spend hours sprawled on the floor drawing and colouring and even at this young age displayed a great talent and interest in art. Graham never showed a great interest in formal education, but throughout his teen years his absorption in painting and drawing grew.
At eighteen, he enrolled in art school. He had always had an interest in figurative work, in the portrayal of the human condition, and from an early age he was familiar with the work of Van Gogh, Cézanne and Picasso. He was now determined to develop his skills as a figurative painter. He found myself to be an intuitive painter, with little patience with the intellectual processes and conclusions, which were so much a part of abstract and conceptual art. For him, to paint what one saw or felt or imagined around one’s self should be a simple affair, painted from the gut.
During Graham’s years as an art student the methods and styles of the American abstract expressionists made their presence felt. He found it pragmatic therefore to stop painting temporarily and adjourn to the sculpture department for his final year. Here, his tutor emphasised the qualities of the older painters (Cézanne, Goya, Rembrandt etc.) and conveyed to Graham the way that light reveals form and how paint can break the light into colours.
He developed a love for sculpture at this time and for some years after gaining his diploma he worked hard in carving and construction. However, through drawing and using colour in his sculpture, he gradually found himself returning to painting. Nowadays he work’s as both a painter and a sculptor.