John Knight

Knight, a Los Angles artist, explores the ways in which political, corporate and institutional power is transmitted through subtle and not-so-subtle uses of architecture and graphic design. Here, he turns his attention to the expansion of museums over the past several decades, noting the transformation of primarily nonprofit centers of learning into white-hot destinations for global tourism. Knight has stamped a series of gold-trimmed white-china plates (not unlike the luxe ceramics found in, say, the Guggenheim's gift shop) with minimalistic geometric configurations, representing the architectural footprints of various building annexes that have been added to existing museums in recent years. It's a neat conflation of the high- and low-end strategies such institutions have employed as they've remade themselves into showcases for cultural spectacles.