Reece King has always wanted to paint big — wall-size big — but never had the opportunity to do so properly until last year.
As the Frances Hodgkins Fellow, King had access to a studio with a large wall space for a year, enabling him to create as large as his heart desired.
While he has attempted large-scale works before, he had always had to work on them on the floor which did not give him the opportunity to look at them "properly".
"This was the first studio that had a big enough wall to see the big paintings through," he says.
The large-scale works appealed as it gave King the opportunity to create all encompassing works, that engulf the viewer, looking down on them demanding consideration.
"I want people to sit down, recalibrate, slow down. That’s why I put the couches in here as well and have it not totally abstract, where there’s nothing definable, but not totally figurative or it’s too literal. We get to that point between abstract and literal painting, which I think allows you to really slow down and think about, ‘what am I looking at?’ — it makes you think differently."
During the 12-month fellowship he made about 10 to 12 large-scale paintings, and rather than following a theme allowed the works to paint themselves.
"I don’t want to give anyone answers."
Given the size of the works, using normal artist’s paints at $50 a tube was not an option, so King sourced whatever house paint he could.
"I’m into grey at the moment. Grey is good because I like the opacity of it. I can paint over things easily.
Traditional acrylics are used in small areas where more details and washier colours are called for.
While he brought brushes back into his practice last year, most of the works are painted using rollers, rags and the occasional splash of water as the paint is layered and removed by rubbing or sanding, depending on the work’s direction.
In other works, such as Razzle, Dazzle and Up, up and away, he has used airbrushing, starting out with light circles and keeping going until he could see something in the work and then going over it repeatedly.
The large works, which often feature an abstract figure, can take anything from three months to a year to finish. Some he sets aside until they are dry, then rolls them up until he is ready to take another look; others like The Conductor are left on the floor until he is ready to hang them and continue working on them.
"I keep working on them until they come forward and I can create a world for them to be happy in."
Taking a break from the large works, King also experimented with more traditional-sized works using wet pastel, which turns paint-like when it dries.
"Tubes of paint are so expensive now, but with pastel you can buy a 24-pack. You have 24 different colours for the same price you could buy one tube, so I had all the colours at hand in one go. So I really liked that. It’s a bit of a challenge because it dries a different colour to what you put it down on. When you put it down wet, everything’s quite deep, and then it dries — it goes quite light."
Despite knowing he would be exhibiting his work from last year in the Hocken gallery, King had not really imagined the work in the space.
"I was worried that the show wasn’t working but then I brought it into the space and everything worked out."
Two works in particular were problematic. Initially starting out as a diptych, King decided it was not working and painted the two works separately.
The two works have been hung side by side in the end gallery as Great Hall — as if made for each other.
The exhibition’s name "The Ogee & Manaia" comes from the many observations King wrote in his studio notebook during the year. An ogee is an s-shaped architectural feature, while manaia is a spiritual guardian figure.
King, who grew up in Te Henga on the west coast of Auckland, holds a master of design in painting (2021) and a bachelor of design and visual arts (2012) from Unitec, and is determined that on every painting he tries something new.
"I don’t like doing the same thing over and over again. I like to always challenge myself and always think of a different way to get to the same place, which is the finished painting. If I start repeating something too much, it gets a bit boring, like eating the same dinner every day."
While there may be linkages between some of King’s works, they are usually spaced far apart in time and varied.
After a year of intensive work as part of the fellowship, King decided it was time to take a break from painting. Now a month later, he is ready to get back into it although in a much smaller space — the spare bedroom of his Dunedin flat.
"So it’ll be a bit smaller I think, maybe more drawing-based."
For him, art has never been optional: it is just part of him. He has been drawing, painting and designing since he was a child, getting more serious as he grew up.
"I think it’s a by-product of me being alive anyway. I’ve just naturally been in the art world."
King opened Sanc Gallery in Auckland in 2021 in response to his and his friends’ struggle to get their paintings shown in an art world focused on installation and other forms of art.
Experience with the gallery made him proud to be a painter.
"I don’t need to hide that with harder statements or academic ideas that aren’t anything to do with painting. Painting is very academic and all of that without disguising it. So I think ‘just champion painting’ is what I got from that and just keep sticking to my guns and keep going."
It has taken a lot of hard work and discipline to get to where he is. King was awarded the Church Road Art Initiative (2023), a residency at Eden Arts Karekare House (2021), and the New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award (2020).
"Consistency. Rigorously going to the studio every single day for at least 10 years before anyone starts to notice. You’ve almost got to trick people into initially looking. Once a few people do, then a lot more people start to notice."
King’s work has been exhibited at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Anna Miles Gallery (Auckland), Gallery 9 (Sydney), CoCA — Centre of Contemporary Art (Christchurch), and PEG Gallery (Wellington).
Now that his work is hanging in Dunedin, he feels like there has been some sort of creative force behind his time in the city.
"In retrospect now that we’ve got the shows up I feel like there’s been a force behind it. I can’t really ... maybe seeing them all together I can recognise it now. I quite like that energy and I sort of want to continue tapping into it."
He has been enjoying the more relaxed art community in the city and people’s genuine interest in his work which he has found to be quite refreshing, "coming from Auckland".
To see:
"The Ogee & Manaia", by Reece King, Hocken Gallery, March 14 to August 1.
