Born in Brazil in 1932, Ronald (Ron) King first moved to the UK in 1945 where he attended Ardingly College followed by the Chelsea School of Art. After a few years in Canada he returned to the UK in 1960 and started a career as a printmaker initially with Editions Alecto and later setting up his own company in order to focus on publishing illustrated artist’s books. Ron King is particularly known for his illustrated books but also creates fantastic prints, he paints and is also a sculptor.
This fantastic screenprint is an excellent example of his work. It is from his ‘Large Masks’ series and dates from about 1971-2. It is the first time he started to incorporate photographic images in his prints which he has done here in a very subtle, imaginative way. The asymmetry gives this print an extra dynamism which fits well with the title ‘Rebel’. King’s prints tend to be highly abstract and it is not immediately obvious what exactly we are looking at but the title, combined with the round badge in the black top suggests that this is some sort of military leader, possibly the infamous guerrilla leader Che Guevara. This would fit well as King’s prints are often influenced by experiences in his youth in Brazil including references to the bandit Lampião.
What I particularly like about this work is how the artist has made such effective use of the white of the paper. This really gives the image an abstract sculptural quality, very typical for art of that period.
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