New Westerners

The Feel of Brush on Canvas Inspires Albuquerque Artist

By Leon Sterling, 9-01-05

On Friday, September 2nd, Ed King’s latest show, “Abstract Impressions,� will be opening at Gallery 5 in the Old Town Frame Shop, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The show will run through September 30. One of the most remarkable aspects of this opening is that it has been close to fifty years in the making.

	Ed King at Harwood Studios. Photo by Leon Sterling

Although King started out wanting to be an artist (he won a National Scholastic Art Award for a water color in junior high), in-between his college years and 2003 when he returned to the studio in Albuquerque, there were only eight early shows (1954 to 1960). After university, he taught graphic design and had a stellar, internationally award-winning, forty-year career in graphic and book design. He worked with such well-known publishing names as George Braziller, The Seven Arts Book Society, The Johns Hopkins Press, and The University of Missouri Press.

Ed King is an artist for whom New Mexico is the right place at the right time. He is an inspiration to me, since I, too, focused on making a living rather than making my own writing my primary objective. Ed is also someone who is extraordinarily present to the process of painting, and it shows. Each individual aspect of the physical act of painting is as significant to him as the ultimate result:

“The painting process itself is a highly responsive endeavor for me. The feel and resistance of brushing pigment on to a tightly stretched canvas are as important as seeing the juxtaposition of new colors to those already laid down.�

It may sound like Zen, but it’s pure King.

King went to The University of Alabama to study art history and painting. But from 1955 to 1995 his creative energies were focused on graphic and book design, largely in the world of university press publishing. It wasn’t until he retired that he took up the brush again with a purpose:

LS: How did you make the move from design work to being an artist again?

EK: After years before a computer screen manipulating words, images and spaces with mouse and keyboard, I now use canvas, with brush and oils to express my impressions of the world around me. The major factor was to resign from the graphic design business to allow my creative interest to be directed to painting. Over numerous years I attempted to paint while still working, but it was impossible – the job always took precedence. I found book design very satisfying, but I always had in the back of mind that I wanted to pursue the painting.

LS: How did you come to be at Harwood Art Center – is there something about the sense of community there that attracted you?

EK: My first need was that I wanted to use oil. Because of the fumes, you have to have a place other than a room in your home. Harwood Art Center was a perfect solution. At first there was a group of fellow artists, and we called ourselves The Seventh Mountain. We would meet once a month to discuss art, and we planned a group show. But the other people pretty much drifted away. I think the group was a good influence, even if didn’t last.

LS: What about New Mexico supports your work as an artist?

EK: Of course it’s a cliché is to talk about the sky, the light, etc., but it really is a factor. And the altitude creates a sense of well-being. I’ve worked on my painting intermittently over the years, but in earnest once I moved to Albuquerque

	Photos of King's work by Leon Sterling

LS: How would you characterize the kind of work you do?

EK: The beginning of a painting occurs away from the studio, as a response to something observed. A trip through the Jemez Mountains, an article on the solar system, or a visit to the seaside prompt me to visualize colors and forms as they might appear on canvas – not realistic forms, but abstract representations of images and ideas.

LS: And how do those images take form?

EK: I begin with a primed canvas on the floor, with a round brush laden with colored wash. I sweep the canvas with rhythmic gestures to create the initial definition of the images I have in mind. With the right consistency of oil and the medium, the line flows and spreads, and takes on irregular shapes on the canvas surface. The remainder of the painting is completed at the easel. Color is a significant part of my approach to painting and plays an important role in the development of the final image. After painting new layers, the shapes and forms become dense with color as I envisioned them.

LS: You make up your own canvasses, too, don’t you?

EK: Yes, I start with raw linen or canvas on the stretcher strips, size it with rabbit skin glue, prime it with gesso – primarily because I like the very rigid resistance that primed canvas offers – and I start considering what I might want to do to that canvas. I have ideas that I’d like to abstract, such as landscapes that I do from memory, using flowing lines to indicate mountains, etc., then through over-painting, and using washes, create this image I have in my mind.

LS: Please speak a little more about your process.

EK: Many of these paintings are never finished because they do not come together as I visualized they would. I like to have some spontaneity with the lines and feeling. If they become over-painted, I’ll just cut the canvas out and that’s the end of it. I might start all over with that same idea on a second painting and it will be successful. As you can see, I‘m not intellectual about it. I like the process. I sometimes may not get back to a canvas for several months. I may look at if for quite some time and not be ready to go to the next stage. A painting I just finished – I had the idea that I wanted to have four circular objects on a canvas. I didn’t like it that much, came back to it four months later with an idea of how to finish it and did it in one day. In a few of my recent paintings I have put less emphasis on line and more on form and shape. I plan on exploring this approach in depth.

	Photos of King's work by Leon Sterling

LS: What are some of your sources of inspiration?

EK: I’ve always been interested in abstract painting. I was influenced by a particular professor in art school, at The University of Alabama. There was an enclave of professors that really encouraged abstract. Color means a great deal to me in my paintings, so Cezanne has always been an inspiration. The subtleties of Cezanne were more of an influence, as well as the impressionistic Monet. Especially his water lily series of large canvasses.

LS: What would you say are key elements of your work?

EK: I’m more concerned with personal expression than some contemporary statement. There’s a great move away from paintings on canvas – some artists have embraced computers and modern technology. I’m going the opposite direction. I brush and paint on canvas, rather than images created on a screen and manipulated mechanically. It’s a matter of preference – I have the computer skills and software and experience, but that never really interested me. My creative goal is to find a higher level of abstract representation of the ideas in my paintings to be understood and enjoyed by others.

Leon Sterling is an award-winning advertising, public relations and marketing communications writer/consultant now located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  He can be reached via e-mail at:  lsterling@compellingconcepts.com

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