Artist Employs Flies for Art, Stuns Police

Denver exhibition sparks unusual law enforcement visit

A Denver art gallery experienced an unexpected police call when a flurry of flies emanating from an artist’s studio led authorities to believe a decomposing body might be present. The commotion, however, was the byproduct of artist **John Knuth**’s unique creative process.

The Insectual Process

For over a decade, **Knuth** has been cultivating a distinctive art form, utilizing the regurgitated digestive fluids of tens of thousands of flies. He explains the natural behavior of flies: “When flies eat they digest externally… They’re in a constant state of regurgitation. They land on a surface, puke up, suck it back in.” By feeding the insects acrylic paints mixed with sugar water, **Knuth** then directs them to deposit these colored mixtures onto his canvases over several weeks.

His resulting abstract, pointillist works have garnered critical acclaim, often described as “vibrant and seemingly luminescent” and “incandescent [and] shimmering,” pushing the boundaries of nature, beauty, and artistic process.

When Art Meets the Law

The incident with the police, which **Knuth** recounted to The Guardian, ended with amusement rather than arrest. Upon entering the gallery, the officers were met with **Knuth**’s explanation: “I told them, ‘I’m an artist. Hundreds of thousands of flies are making paintings for me. Some are escaping.’” The officers, initially concerned, quickly became fascinated by the unconventional art.

“They were so intrigued. They were like, ‘This is amazing.’ They invited the people at the bank who reported the flies over and 20 minutes later they were all on board with it and apologizing for raising a fuss.”

—John Knuth

From Tragedy to Creation

Currently, **Knuth** is exhibiting his latest collection, titled “The Hot Garden,” at the Hollis Taggart gallery in New York. This show holds particular significance as it marks his first major exhibition following the devastating Eaton fire in January, which claimed his Los Angeles home, family mementos, and the entirety of his artistic archive. The fire’s impact spurred **Knuth** to return to his fly paintings, stating, “they helped pay for my house that burned down. I wanted to get back to the beginning point.” This personal tragedy has directly influenced his current body of work.

A Lifelong Fascination with the Natural World

Knuth‘s artistic journey has always been intertwined with nature. His childhood in Minneapolis was spent exploring the outdoors, collecting snakes, frogs, and turtles. This early fascination with creatures evolved into his artistic practice, which has included using rattlesnake venom in paints and incorporating elements like coyote penis bones and gold leaf horseshoe crabs into his art. Reflecting on his unconventional path, he once mused, “What the fuck am I doing? Why didn’t I start painting nudes or get a muse?”

The Genesis of Fly Art

The concept of using flies as artistic tools emerged for **Knuth** around the time of the 2003 Iraq war. After reading about the significant role flies played in spreading diseases like malaria, he initially conceived an anti-war statement by attaching paper airplanes to flies. During this exploration, he observed that fly specks bore a resemblance to paint dots.

Early experiments in 2005, using flies fed by fast-food chains like McDonald’s and Taco Bell, produced only brown hues. “They were cool conceptual objects. But not beautiful artworks,” he noted. His career trajectory significantly shifted in 2013 when the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles commissioned a large-scale fly painting project. The resulting viral video cemented his career, leading to global exhibitions and the acquisition of his works by private collectors and institutions like the Asheville Art Museum.

“The Hot Garden”: A Reflection of Loss and Resilience

The current New York exhibition, “The Hot Garden,” is **Knuth**’s third solo show in the city. The exhibition’s theme was inspired by the widespread impact of the Los Angeles fires on artists in his community, with many losing their homes. “This was a generation changing event for my generation of artists,” he stated. He aimed to represent the fire’s destructive force through distorted landscapes and fire motifs, using warm colors like oranges and yellows to evoke heat, similar to Monet’s approach to color in his lily paintings.

Alongside his fly paintings, **Knuth** presents “The Sculpture Garden,” an installation featuring salvaged fragments of artworks from his fire-damaged home and contributions from other affected artists. The exhibition includes “This Is Our Pompeii,” a New York Times article about the fires’ impact on local artists, itself covered in red flyspeck. The installation has already garnered attention, with Glenn Phillips, director of the Getty Research Center, acquiring two pieces for the Getty Museum.

Looking Ahead

While pleased with the continued resonance of his fly paintings, **Knuth** admits the exhibition offers solace rather than complete catharsis for the trauma of losing his life’s work. “Being busy helps. Having a reason to keep doing this helps. But all of my archive and retrospective is gone. That’s the first 25 years of my career,” he shared. He continues to create in his new Pasadena studio, surrounded by fly traps, sculptures, and animal remains, focusing on rebuilding his artistic legacy. “I’m 46 now, so hopefully I have another 25 years left to make up for what I lost.”