Jo King
Born in Buckinghamshire,1959 to professional painters Jeremy and Brenda King, visual art has always been a background to Jo's life.
At the age of 2 he even managed to paint himself from head to toe, in his father's oils!
After graduating in 1981 from Dartington College of Arts with a BA degree in theatre, he moved to Holland and worked as a cabaret entertainer.
His experience as a professional performer and musician led to a fascination with the human body both in dance and figurative art.
After 8 years of working for the highly visual mask and puppet company Horse + Bamboo, directed by painter Bob Frith,
he started attending life classes run by Bohuslav Barlow, Kathryn Mernagh Cook and Frank Nelson in Todmorden1998. From then on he started to take
his painting skills more seriously and devoted more and more time to developing his technique. In 2002 he moved to Spain and was very influenced by the way
strong sunlight and deep shadows define three dimensional forms. This sense of strong directional light has remained very evident in his art work.
Unconcerned with fickle fads and fashions in the art world, his influences range from Andrew Wyeth and Stanhope Forbes to Neo Classical works. . . .
even the nostalgic appeal of mid 20th century American painters like Norman Rockwell and Gil Elvgren.
He now lives and paints in Harrogate and continues to perform throughout Europe with his own "the frankly Sinatra show"
To date he has exhibited at :
Bare Arts Gallery, Todmorden 1999 - 2002
Nerja Antiguedades, Andalucia, Spain 2003 - 2006
The Glass House Gallery, Penzance 2006 - 2007
The Drawing Room, Chesham 2007
Leeds City Art Gallery open exhibition 2007
( Also In 2007, one of Jo's oil paintings was shortlisted out of 12,000 entries for the Summer Exibition at the Royal Academy )
Philomena's Art House, Brigham in Cumbria 2007 - 2008
Chelsea Art Fair
Buxton Art Fair