About Me
“King’s fierce line spans several printing methods most recently, predominantly woodcuts, lithography, and etchings. In balancing a graphic design career with fine art ambitions, King composes earnestly communicative images. They are relatable, recognizable. His vulnerable characters reveal a solidarity among souls consumed by desire."
- Lynn Maliszewski, bombsite.com
Isaiah King is a Canadian-born graphic designer and artist living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Isaiah’s design studio and practice build upon an assertion that art and design can play an important role in the elevation of deeper public discourse on social issues. His printmaking and drawing works pursue an ongoing study of the human form in all its complex, emotive facets. Employing multiple printmaking and drawing techniques, Isaiah applies diverse and aggressive mark making into his figure studies.
2010
Spring, 2010
Group exhibit
Dutch Kills May Show
Dutch Kills Gallery, New York City, New York
May 8 – June 6, 2010
Summer, 2010
Group Exhibit
“It’s Only a Paper Moon…”
Wall Space Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario
July 17 – August 10, 2010.
Fall, 2010
Group Exhibit
New Prints 2010/Autumn
International Print Center of New York, New York City, New York
October 21 – November 20, 2010
2009
Winter, 2008/2009
Group Exhibit
BOLD: Prints and paintings by Talyn-Hartunian-Credit and Isaiah King
Diesel Café, Somerville, Massachusetts
December 4, 2008 - January 31, 2009
Spring, 2009
Solo Exhibit
Prints
The Savant Project, Boston, Massachusetts
April 2-30, 2009
Summer, 2009
Solo Exhibit
Multiples: Printmaking works on paper by Isaiah King
Dutch Kills Gallery, New York City, New York
June 20 – June 28, 2009
November 1, 2009
Publication
Design for Obama - Posters for Change: A Grassroots Anthology
By Steven Heller, Aaron Perry-Zucker and Spike Lee
Published by Taschen
2015
October 29, 2015
Publication
Presenting Shakespeare: 1,100 Posters from Around the World
By Mirko Ilic, Steven Heller and Julie Taymor
Published by Princeton Architectural Press
2014
Fall, 2014
Group exhibit
822 Gallery Artists
822 Gallery, Royal Oak, Michigan
2012
Spring, 2012
Group exhibit
2012 MassArt Auction
Sandra and David Bakalar Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts.
March 30 – April 14, 2012
Fall, 2012
Group exhibit
Worth Telling
Abrazo Interno Gallery , New York City
August 30th – September 11th, 2012
October, 2012
Group Exhibit
Africa Grafica
2012 Tenerife Design Festival, Museum of Nature and Mankind, Tenerife, Spain
October 11 - 31, 2012
2011
Winter, 2011
Group Exhibit
New Prints 2010/Autumn
Visual Arts Center at The University of Texas, Austin , Texas
January 28 - March 12, 2011
Winter, 2011
Group Exhibit
Haiti in the Collective Imagination
The Gallatin Galleries, New York City, New York
February 14 – March 3, 2011
May, 2011
Publication
“All for Africa”
PAGE Magazine Issue 5/2011, Germany
Summer, 2011
Group Exhibit
Flourish: Alumni Works on Paper
Sandra and David Bakalar Gallery at Massachusetts College of Art and Design
June 6—July 9, 2011
Fall, 2011
Group Exhibit
This is What Democracy Looks Like
The Gallatin Galleries, New York City, New York
October 28 – November 18, 2011
Really Early years:
According to my parents I’ve been drawing from a very young age. People and cows featured prominently in my pre-kindergarten period. The highlight of my early work is a small religious piece entitled “Angel Dropping Sewing Machine on Nativity Scene,” my mother still has this in her collection.
Earlier years:
Within a community of crafts people and artisans I went to a two-room schoolhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. Here Coral Nault (the most influential artist in my life) taught me everything from the color wheels to how to proportionally draw a face. I still fail her tertiary colors pop quiz when I see her on home visits!
Early-ish years:
In hindsight I now understand that Canterbury Arts High School in Ottawa, Ontario had a creative educational rigor on par or exceeding most post-secondary schools. Which might be why even though I didn’t totally suck at art, I still didn’t exactly get stellar grades. Rightfully so! Those grades were reserved for my genius classmates whom I still admire today.
The other years:
Hazy, hung-over experimentations in music, theater, African travel, set design, hard labor and construction…
The Resurrection Period:
My muse and now wife kicked my ass back into what I was always good at, visual arts. I picked up my pencils and brushes again and went off to art school. My ChangeTheWorld-Adbusters-subversive-design-fascination sent me on the graphic design track at MassArt in Boston. Here I also rediscovered my love for printmaking and spent every spare minute at school in the print studio.
The now time
Greenpoint, Brooklyn is now my home. Here I’ve established a small graphic design and animation studio and continue to create my own art.