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John McDevitt King

King_2020_Bitter_Time_Image_14_x_12.jpg.

"I have always been intrigued with how humans observe and transfigure meaning based on what we see, even if that information is incomplete. I try to capture those gaps—       the spaces between thoughts or blankness right before information begins to crystallize." 

ABOVE:

Bitter Time (2020)

14" x 12" print (28" x 22.5" paper)

Ghost Monoprint on paper

BELOW:

Count to End, Count to Begin (2020)

14" x 12" print (28" x 22.5" paper)

Ghost Monoprint on paper

John McDevitt King brings the same attentive intimacy to his artwork as he brought to his former career as a diamond grader. Each of his prints, like diamonds, contains an interior depth that extends far below the surface of the paper. For him, that depth is sensorial. A color invokes rhythm. A marking on a paper becomes a tactile terrain. A ghostly print conjures solitude and quiet. 

King_2020_Count_to_End_Count_to_Begin_Im

These works, Bitter Time  and Count to End, Count to Begin were created in early 2020 and serve as both a prelude and a continued conversation for the affects COVID-19 has had on King's creative practice.

When describing the early days of the pandemic, King states "It seemed sudden. Everything closed. A city of millions yet alone. Limited routines and limited contact." In this period, the artist worked on a series of monoprints and was encouraged by his printer to explore "ghost prints," the act of pulling a second print without re-inking the surface to create a ghost image of the first with residual ink. 

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