Sam King’s (b. 1995) practice explores diverse issues including subjective experience and human relationships in the digital age, transhumanism, and the utopian and dystopian potentialities of technological progress.
Technically, his work combines traditional and ‘virtual’ registers of paint to obscure the boundary between organic and technologized life. The artist montages heterogeneous references drawn from art history, computer generated software and internet imagery, to explore the hybrid nature of contemporary experience.
King’s latest work grows out of a recent diagnosis with an autoimmune condition. Confronted with the organic limitations of his body and its reliance on synthetic enhancements to maintain function, he questions the implications of technological integration and augmentation to the self.
Often he depict proxies of his own body, exploring the emotional implications of bodily failure, and expectations of virility surrounding masculinity and youth.
Ultimately, King’s work speaks to a moment in time where through technology our bodies and selves are continually reimagined, transcending previous limitations in both our individual function and cultural norms, yet also liquidating previously integral parts of our human nature.
Selected Group Exhibitions.
2023
BetweenThe Bridge And The Door, Pictorum Gallery, London
Cacotopia, Annka Kultys Gallery, London
2022
Blurred States of Being, Prior Art Space, Barcelona
Hyper-Contemporary act II, Hasbrook Galleries, Virtual Show
Fever Dream, Vortic, Curated by Daria Borisova, Virtual Show (displayedat Santa Monica Art Museum)
Water is Not for Sale, Bloom Galerie, St Tropez
Touchwood, Eve Leibe Gallery Hosted by Prior Art Space, Berlin
Soho Revue x The Little Scarlet Door, London
Voices for Love, Prior Art Space, Barcelona
Turps Off Site Leavers Show, Thames Side Gallery, London
All The Same at Different Ages, Fitzrovia Gallery, London
Together/Somewhere, Visionary Projects x ArtCityWorks, Online
#1 Exhibition, ArtsinSqaure, Online
2021
London Design Week, The Bottle Factory, London
Pulp, The Florence Trust, London
Rea Fair, Milan, Italy
2020
Not yet, No, PADA Studios, Portugal.
2019
Time and Space, The Old School Gallery, Leiden,
The End is Nigh, The Library, London.
Secret Art Show, Milan.
Student Charity Auction, Sothebys Institute, London
Auc Art, London.
2018
Graduate Show, The Art Academy, London
Guild Artists Exhibition, Stratford-Upon Avon & London
Education.
Turps Off Site Course 2021-2022
The Art Academy, Fine Art Diploma, 2015-2018
Prizes and Awards.
2020 – ACS Studio Prize - Shortlisted
2018 - Jorge Aguilar-Agon Student Artist Award - Winner
LSM Art Award – Winner of Popular Vote
Residencies.
2022
Pictorum Gallery Residency, London.
Eve Leibe Project, London
2020
PADA studios, Lisbon, Portugal
2019
Art House Holland, Holland
Auc Art Lab, London
2017
Jardin Orange Artist Residency, Shenzhen, China
Selected Press.
2022
Bricks Magazine – Best Exhibitions to Visit in March
2021
‘Both Sides of Here: Artistic Encounters at the Threshold’ Magazine
2020
The Flux Review Issue 4
Art Hole Issue 4
2019
Veneno Magazine Issue 1 (February) - Interview
2018
Fine Art + Framing Today June Edition
Average Art Magazine May Edition
2016
Inside Street Art Melbourne
2015
Street Art: Australia