Richard King
Art drawing sculpture
Ideas
My art practice has grown out of a need to manage bouts of insomnia over many years. I began drawing, in an effort to distract myself from the realities of sleeplessness. I started to explore shape and form, inspired by the unique character of industrial ruins (which have always fascinated me). In their decayed condition, I see them like giant figures in a forgotten landscape. I am drawn to their lost or in-between status, opening the door to imagining them as something beyond their present selves.
I enjoy creating objects that remind me of other things, exploring shapes and geometries that conflate spatial and figural qualities, tapping into the perceptions and memories of the viewer. Pieces are drawn in layers, subtracting and adding lines to clarify interesting qualities that begin to emerge, often reworking them over long periods of time.
Through the development of these assemblies, I have become focused on their density and the play of light and shadow they offer. They are crafted to provide a shifting degree of solidity and openness as one moves around them, shifting between a kind of stoic presence and near absence.
Working with tools from my architectural training, I develop drawings in graphite, ink and paint as well as in digital form. The three-dimensional assemblies are built from flat and folded plates of thin basswood and cardboard or cut from large wood blocks and joined together to form larger constructions.
I see these pieces as part of a broader collection of shapes/spaces that we unconsciously interpret, to make sense of (and alter) our physical world every day. I seek to create these moments of translation in the experience of the work, shaping structures that remain open to that interpretive condition.