AK Profile

Biography

b.22 Feb 1952 -

History

Alan King was born in Greenwich, South East London in February 1952. He first started to draw at John Evelyn School in Deptford (mostly in text books which got him the cane on a regular basis!) Once he joined Eltham Green School in 1963 King studied Art under Richard Box and Jim Riddock where he was introduced to the artists of the Surrealist movement. Later King studied the optical illusion work of M. C. Escher and Oscar Reutersvard, plus the architecture and interior design of Frank Lloyd Wright.

JOHN EVELYN SCHOOL, Deptford

ELTHAM GREEN SCHOOL

Becoming an artist

Leaving school in 1968 King began his professional artistic journey by producing his own 'private' artwork while working as a trainee commercial artist in London's highly competitive advertising industry. After just two years he parted with the commercial advertising industry to pursue his own creative ambitions and by the early 1970's he was already exhibiting and selling art across London. The New Media artwork of the Massurrealists are often a source of inspiration for King's work. Now accepted as a member of the Massurrealist Movement himself, and probably the first in the UK, King continues to experiment and explore new methods of artistic expression.

Style

Drawing on his knowledge of computer and commercial design techniques, processes and working methods Alan King has developed his own unique and recognisable style. His vibrant and vividly surreal landscapes bridge the gap between surrealist imagery and New Media technique.

Alan King's style cleverly combines drawing and computer skills. The drawing aspect leaves in the art aspect while the computer portion allows the artist to make some odd, yet intriguing, images with much more clarity than old fashioned drawing and painting can provide. A master of digital technique, King is able to capture and express the images seen in his mind's eye; opening doors into a world where traditional Art methods are combined in the computer to create new and Surreal images

WHAT THE CRITICS HAVE TO SAY - click HERE

The great writers and artists who influenced and still influence Alan King's Art, including some poetry








		Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Dylan Thomas

The wall on which the prophets wrote Is cracking at the seams. Upon the instruments of death The sunlight brightly gleams. When every man is torn apart With nightmares and with dreams, Will no one lay the laurel wreath When silence drowns the screams. Confusion will be my epitaph. As I crawl a cracked and broken path If we make it we can all sit back And laugh. But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying, Yes I fear tomorrow I'll be crying. Between the iron gates of fate, The seeds of time were sown, And watered by the deeds of those Who know and who are known; Knowledge is a deadly friend When no one sets the rules. The fate of all mankind I see Is in the hands of fools. Confusion will be my epitaph. As I crawl a cracked and broken path If we make it we can all sit back And laugh. But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying, Yes I fear tomorrow I'll be crying. Greg Lake	Let Memories Surround You Feel no guilt in laughter, For they know how much you care. Feel no sorrow in a smile That they're not here to share. You cannot grieve forever-- They would not want you to. They'd hope that you would carry on The way you always do. So talk about the good times And the ways you showed you cared, The days you spent together, All the happiness you shared. Let memories surround you; A word someone may say Will suddenly recapture A time, an hour, a day, That brings them back as clearly As though they were still here, And fills you with the feelings That they are always near. For if you keep those moments, You will never be apart, And they will live forever.... Locked safe within your heart. ~Author Unknown~	There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; And frogs in the pools singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white; Robins will wear their feathery fire, Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire; And not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done, Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, If mankind perished utterly; And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn Would scarcely know that we were gone. *Ray Bradbury* Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it. ~ Terry Pratchett