Alex Knapik is a Chicago-based arts laborer, curator, and artist with over 8 years of experience working in the visual arts industry. She currently holds an AA from College of DuPage in Business, a BA from Columbia College Chicago in Visual Arts Management, and an MS from Northwestern University in Leadership for Creative Enterprises. Professionally, Alex is connected throughout Chicagoland and beyond as an arts worker and activist. She has spoken at the Death to Museums conference, co-facilitated the 17th &18th Chicago Food Justice Summit, hosted the "Honest Museum Labels" activist art project, and more. Alex centers many radically progressive beliefs, unapologetically, and these pursuits inform her work in all areas. Her career focus is in arts non-profit leadership and she looks to one day lead an arts organization that would serve Chicagoland. In contrast, Alex does not support "the grind" and practices care through spirituality, movement, continuous learning, and rest.

PRACTICE STATEMENT

My practice is “anti-focus,” a methodology that resists the imperialist impulse to categorize, isolate, and define meaning through rigid structures. Instead of using a microscope to distill singular truths, my work engages with shifting emphases, fluid connections, and the multiplicity of perspectives that emerge when we resist linear narratives. This approach allows for an impact-driven, moment-relevant engagement with visual storytelling, where meaning is not imposed but rather revealed through layered, interconnected experiences.

I question what we actually experience in first impressions, brief glances, and fleeting moments. The average viewer spends only 15–30 seconds looking at a work of art. Rather than attempting to combat this reality with demands for deeper engagement, I embrace the nature of fragmented attention—using composition, flow, and spatial relationships to construct immersive, associative encounters with art. My work is not meant to be viewed in isolation, but as part of a larger ecosystem of meaning, informed by context, adjacency, and movement.

This anti-focus methodology is deeply informed by neurodivergent modes of perception, the saturation of short-form digital content, and the expansive possibilities of research across unrelated fields. By rejecting the expectation that artists must commit to a single medium, subject, or conceptual framework, I create space for art that is more accessible, more expansive, and more reflective of the chaotic, interconnected ways in which we actually experience the world.

This refusal to conform to institutional expectations is also an anti-imperialist stance. The colonial project of classification and control extends to art, where mastery of a single discipline is often positioned as the only valid path to legitimacy. By resisting the demand for focus, my practice actively undermines these hierarchies, embracing an approach that values intuition, intersectionality, and the generative potential of undefined connections.

There is power in delaying definition. Rushing to execution often reinforces extractive, production-driven models of art-making, leading to burnout and stifling the possibility of deeper engagement. By allowing research and process to unfold organically, I create work that is not just a finished product, but a living, evolving constellation of ideas. In this sense, anti-focus is not a lack of discipline, but a radical form of patience. One that prioritizes discovery over destination.

Through this practice, I hope to contribute to an artistic landscape that values multiplicity over singularity, dialogue over dogma, and experience over expectation. In resisting focus, I create room for the unexpected, inviting viewers to see, think, and connect in ways they never have before.

CURRICULUM VITAE

BIO

PRACTICE STATEMENT

ALEXANDRIA KNAPIK