Prior to Knopf attending an MA in Contemporary Fine Art at Salford University, he was a practicing multi-media artist, exhibiting work here in the UK, Switzerland and the USA. Whilst studying he had the opportunity to use the facilities and technologies within the university to experiment and develop his practice of assemblages from found objects and 3D printed objects, combining new technology with old. He moved away from the traditional way of working by sketching and designing a piece to something more intuitive in line with play and discovery.

Since graduating he was awarded a scholarship from the Salford University Art Collection in partnership with the Castlefield Gallery Manchester, this included a years studio space in Paradise Works Salford where he still has a studio.

“I am self motivated and have developed my skills to demonstrate my ideas and ambitions through my practice. The direction of my research has taken me into the realms of defamiliarization, the concepts of which have affected how as an artist I approach my practice. I appropriate, adapt and then defamiliarize objects to suit my own ends, particularly sculptures from the past. I find that the use of individual different objects, unfamiliar or strange juxtaposed together can be a way of gaining knowledge and new perspectives on how these items are perceived by onlookers. By presenting audiences with common items in an unaccustomed way, I aim to make the onlooker investigate and question what they are viewing. These sculptures/ assemblages can serve as reminders of fallen empires as these fragments are found, rebuilt, and then pieced together to create new forms and dialogues. It can be said that they embody elements of the past, present, and future in the materials and techniques used to produce them.