John McDevitt King

Brooklyn, New York

How would you describe your work?

My work comes from a life spent drawing, painting, traveling, and working in a gemological laboratory. Often captured through allusions to interior space, the paintings and drawings come out of the role memory and location plays in forming our experience. Intimate, elusive elements are used to indicate a search for the individual example, the ephemeral incident, the gaps between thoughts, and the moments when things crystallize.

What inspires you?

Light in all its iterations. From subtle shimmers to the brightest flashes. Natural light as well as artificial. What it reveals and what it conceals. The way it is captured and returned to the eye by diamond. Travel allows one to experience light in all its variety and understand how its variations have influenced cultures around the world. Art inspires art. When back in the studio one engages in a response to artists across time. Inspiration also comes from allowing yourself to act on the question of “what if?”.

Can you speak about your process?

I use encaustic paint that I mix myself; a recipe of beeswax, damar resin and powdered pigments that are applied to wood panels. Wax and damar resin are heated to liquify and pigments are added to create colors that vary from translucent to opaque. There is no waiting time for paint to dry; I can work over a passage right away as well as scrap to “erase”. The surfaces can range from satiny to shiny, opaque to translucent, smooth to highly textured.

When I draw, graphite has been my favorite medium for a long time. I find it simple and direct yet capable of a wide range of effects. I use different leads for color as well as for their tonal effect. In recent years I have increasingly used colored pencils. As with my paintings, I create colors through the layering of different pencils. The wide range of paper supports I use are integral to each piece and that interest originated from past papermaking activities. Drawing is liberating for me and the activity I come back to the most.

I observe with an eye for how something affects me and then explore the reasons through my art. I may like the way the light plays across a surface or an object. I want to understand why it is so intriguing, so I use an image of what I saw or direct observation to start making a piece. As I get into the execution, I let the piece tell me what changes are needed. Most of my work takes weeks or months for me to know they are done. The resulting drawings or paintings rest on the edge of feeling familiar but not quite.

How did you become interested in art?

I have drawn since I was a child. I continue to find it one of the best ways for me to think, react, and build awareness. Growing up my mother was always active in arts and crafts, from painting to weaving, to knitting, to macramé. The creative acts and visual objects were always around me.

Do you have any favorite artists, movies, books, or quotes?

I constantly look at visual art, read literature and poetry, and see dance performances and films. Those that inspire are too many to note. To me, all of them are critical to understanding the language of art and one’s relationship to this world.

There are so many meaningful quotes it would be hard to know where to start or end for that matter. One that has always resonated is by William Faulkner from Light in August: “Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing ever wonders.” But even with all these sources, when I enter the studio, I enter alone. My thoughts are only on doing the work.

What advice do you have for younger artists?

Be inspired by going through your process, learning, and growing from it while finding something new with each piece. Regardless of the media, work for substance rather than appearance.

Jonathan Gathaara Sölanke Fraser

Kate Fleming