Quiet, calm and painterly. These are three words that evoke the sense of Chris E. King’s imagery, which photography writer Miranda Gavin describes in her foreword to the photographer’s inaugural book No Opportunity for Regret (by Dark Spring Press, 2018) as being, “at the confluence of documentary landscape and travel photography.”
King’s journey started in the early 1970s using a 110 Agfamatic camera. Over the years, his ongoing dedication to image-making has transformed a childhood hobby into a long-term practice. Today, it’s rare to see the photographer without a Leica in tow, framing the world with recognizable perspective using clean horizontals and verticals with a formalist approach to composition.
Upon joining a London-based photography collective in 2010, King expanded his personal practice from taking pictures to printing and exhibiting, opening private worlds to the public domain. The resulting short-run limited-edition C-type prints are presented large in scale with crisp black frames placed immediately alongside image edges. This leads to the viewer’s experience being akin to looking through a window into a parallel reality. While each scene is immersed in a world touched by humankind, individuals are rarely presented.
King’s work has been shown at galleries and art fairs in London, New York, Arkansas, Mexico City, Vancouver and beyond. In 2016, he was awarded the Best Photograph at the National Open Art Competition in London, England. This was followed in early 2018 by the solo exhibition No Opportunity for Regret at the Curious Duke Gallery in London. This presentation was featured in FAD magazine’s ‘Top 7 art exhibitions to see this week in London’, as well as in Interior Design’s print magazine. In December 2018, a solo show of the same name was presented at the Ivy Brown Gallery in Manhattan, New York City which also officially launched King’s book publication in the USA.
King lives in Lewes, England, with his American fiancée Susan, and continues to pursue new and ongoing bodies of work alike.
Upcoming/Current Exhibitions
| 7-8, 21-22 Sept 2024 |
Photography & Jewellery show at ArtWave Festival, Lewes, East Sussex |
Awards and Prizes
| 2016 | National Open Art Competition Best Photography Award sponsored by Naylor |
| 2015 | Big Sky Photography Experience Award. National Open Art Competition Prize Winner. |
| 2014 | Second place in the public's choice out of 70 artworks at the 2014 Salon des Refusés. |
Past Exhibitions:
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2022 |
Diego Correa Art Space, London |
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2019 |
12 Year Anniversary Show - M2 Gallery, Little Rock, Arkansas |
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2018 |
No Opportunity For Regret - Solo Show, Ivy Brown Gallery, 675 Hudson St, New York |
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2018 |
No Opportunity For Regret - Solo Show, Curious Duke Gallery, 173 Whitecross St, London |
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2017 |
21st National Open Art Competition, Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, Southbank, London. |
| 2016 | 20th National Open Art Competition Winners' Exhibition Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. |
| 2016 |
National Open Art Winter Exhibition, Mercers' Hall, Ironmonger Lane, London EC2V 8HE. |
| 2016 | The Rooftop Collective Edition V, Clerkenwell Gallery, Clerkenwell Green, London. EC1R 0DP. Part of photomonth east. |
| 2016 | National Open Art Pop Up, Arundel Castle, Arundel. |
| 2015 | National Open Art Winners' Gallery, Pallant House, Chichester. |
| 2015 | National Open Art Competition, Royal College of Art, London |
| 2015 | Affordable Art Fair. With Curious Duke Gallery. London. |
| 2015 | What on Earth? Two-person show with Julian Hanford, Curious Duke Gallery. London. Part of photomonth east 2015. |
| 2015 | Solo show Interfaces and Intersections Goldcrest films, London. |
| 2014 | London Lives, Oil and Water Gallery, Wandsworth Town, London. |
| 2014 | The Rooftop Collective Edition III at Curious Duke Gallery, London. Part of photomonth east 2014. |
| 2014 | Affordable Art Fair Mexico City with Decorazon Gallery. |
| 2014 | Affordable Art Fair New York with Decorazon Gallery. |
| 2014 | Best of the Salon des Refusés. London Newcastle Project Space, London. Details here. |
| 2014 | Salon des Refusés 2014, London. Curated by Happenstance. |
| 2014 | People and Places, Oil and Water Gallery, Wandsworth Town, London. |
| 2013 | Holiday Show, M2 Gallery, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. |
| 2013 | The Frontline Club 10th Anniversary Exhibition, The Prix Bayeux Awards, Le Radar Gallery, Bayeux. Photographs from the Frontline Club, London. |
| 2013 | Crossing Borders, Susan Mumford Art Projects + Consultancy, Oxford American, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. |
| 2013 | Spaces in Transition, Hanmi Gallery, London, Curated by Maria Marro-Perrera. |
| 2012 | The Rooftop Collective Edition II, theprintspace, London. |
| 2012 | Distilled Memory, Susan Mumford art projects + consultancy, Pop-up Exhibition at the Framers Gallery, London. |
| 2011 | The Everyday, Rooftop Collective exhibition, The Rooftop Gallery, Soho, London. Curated by Susan Johnson-Mumford. |
Press
| 2013 | Crossing Borders, by Ryan Spark, Southern Glossary |
| 2013 | The British Are Coming, by Leslie Newell Peacock, Arkansas Times |
| 2013 | Spaces in Transition, by blogger Trevor To, Fitzrovia Art Walk |
Publications
Leica Myself (2013)
Art is Your Life. Make it Your Living. Susan Mumford, Chris King (2015)
Collections
The Frontline Club, London
City Dental, City of London
Projects
2012-Ongoing: Director and Producer of weekly image for Be Smart About Art’s Sunday reading blog.