Publication
Alison Knowles, Maker of Multiples | Elephant, September 29, 2026
Longform Content
Bella Butler visited the Alison Knowles retrospective at Grey Art Museum in New York. Here, she thinks through why the exhibit had such a profound, personal effect on her, and argues for its significance within the context of the art (and the wider) world today.
by Bella Butler
By the time I arrive at the exhibition by Alison Knowles: A Retrospective (1960–2022), a retrospective of American artist Alison Knowles at New York University’s Grey Art Museum, I am hot, thirsty and ready for lunch. It’s August in the city. The first works I see, installed on the wall opposite the entrance, are a series of yellow-tinted screen prints on roughly 12-inch-square canvases. And depicted on the canvases are uncomfortable close-ups of people’s mouths caught in the act of eating. Fitting, I think.
