"Siberians" by Mark King Limited Edition Signed & #d Framed Serigraph 144/295

"Siberians" by Mark King Limited Edition Signed & #d Framed Serigraph 144/295

• MARK KING (b.1931)
• Siberians
• Signed and numbered in pencil along bottom
• Serigraph on Paper
• This work is numbered 144 out of an edition of 295 executed in 1990
• Image: 34.75 in. L x 25.75 in. W
• Frame: 42 in. L x 35 in. W
• Embossed with "Martin Lawrence Limited Edition / MLLE / ©1990"
• King has carefully studied the old and modern masters from Cimabue and Massacio to Goya, Turner, Degas, and Bonnard. Fascinated with painting techniques, King meticulously layers colors, glazes and shapes as substrata for the five or ten percent of the acrylic paint that floats on top and forms the finished composition. The underpainting filters through to the surface creating depth and texture. Because of his alla prima approach, in which a painting is realized in a burst of inspiration and single application of pigments, King confesses, "It is not until the last ten to fifteen minutes before completion that I am able in to see where the painting is going and catch the mood of the moment."
• King follows in the footsteps of Courbet and the Impressionists, painting what he sees, such as the familiar streets, monuments and quarters of Paris. King never fully defines his seductive faces and figures, which he often shows from behind, as if they too were silent observers like himself. Passionate about horses since his youth, King's animated depictions of polo and the fox hunt derive from personal experience. His interest in big game dates from India, where elephants and camels roam the streets and tigers and other large cats can easily be seen in their natural habitat. In addition to King's fascination with the fauna of Central Asia, he has also retained a keen fascination for the flora of the region as well as botany in general, which he incorporates into his compositions. Since his arrival in the United States, as King became more exposed to sports, he capitalized on the drama and visual spectacle of ice hockey and horse racing, as well as his love of the out-of-doors by treating subjects like yacht racing, golf and tennis from a seascape or landscape point of view.
• Like the Impressionist Masters, Mark King uses his eye as a passive organ, confronting the visual field. Objective and detached, he considers himself an "unobserved observer." He explains, "I make no judgements about what I see -- there is no right or wrong -- it is there to be assimilated." King believes, "When there is no jamming of the cosmic forces influencing our receptivity, those energies and forces feed into us and it is those briefest fractions of a second when things flow."
• King's versatility and zest for life transform everything he paints into strong patterns of brilliant color. His subtle understanding of how color, texture and paint interact is his strong point. Color conveys feelings and emotions in the creation of a timeless art, and now in the full maturity of his career, he has achieved superb mastery of his palette. (from artistmarkking.com)