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Hailing from Australia, Featured Artist Marce King is an accomplished portrait and figurative artist whose work embodies a captivating blend of drawing and painting.
Marce King's profound connection to the human form has been evident since their early high school days. While their styles and mediums may vary, their work consistently highlights the physicality and emotional depth of the subjects being depicted.
In the creative process, decisions (like whether or not to add color) are consciously made. When color is employed, it serves as a powerful tool, adding depth, complexity, and meaning to the artwork.
In recent pieces, Marce has symbolically utilized colors—drawing inspiration from queer pride flags or employing hues traditionally associated with femininity or masculinity, such as pink and blue.
A prominent theme in Marce's current body of work revolves around the lives of LGBTIQ+ individuals and related communities.
Through their art, they aim to express the diverse experiences, personal journeys, and emotional aspects of this community. As a transgender and nonbinary artist, Marce's own identity permeates their work, creating a deeply personal and resonant exploration of gender, identity, belonging, and the social constructs surrounding binary identification.
Artwork Archive had the chance to chat with Marce King about the human form, what success means to them, and how Artwork Archive has made their art career more manageable!
You can see more of their work on Discovery and learn more about their art practice below:
Marce King, 'Mirror Image', 46 x 46 cm, (18.11 x 18.11 in)
The human form has been a central focus in your art since early high school. How has your understanding and representation of the human form evolved over the years?
I think my interest in the human form began with a need to understand myself and those around me.
From a young age, I drew family, friends, and strangers—I drew people from movies, newspapers, and magazines. I attended life drawing classes. In late high school, I would buy bodybuilding magazines to understand muscle structure better. Looking back on my work from university, I see a natural progression and evident growth in my understanding of structure, form, muscular and skeletal systems, and more.
I find people so endlessly interesting and ever-changing.
I'm constantly learning—and I don't think I'm even close to being good at this yet—there's always someone/something different to find and see. That's just the physicality of the human form.
What I love most about my current knowledge is the ability to utilize my understanding of the human form to draw and convey something far more intricate and complex: thoughts, emotions, feelings, moods, and beyond.
How has your exploration of different mediums, such as drawing, painting, printmaking, and lithography, influenced your art practice? How do you decide which medium to use for a particular project?
Since I was very young, I've always had a love of drawing. Any drawing medium has always felt like an extension of my arm and body and the only way I could express myself.
In university, I discovered lithography and etching and found the related chemical processes really fascinating. It breathed new life into my drawing—slightly altering my drawing style.
Full color in my work has been somewhat unexplored territory in my artistic journey. The more I worked with lithographs and etchings, the less color I used. However, in my third year of university, I consciously started to add color to my prints.
At the time it was more of an educational exercise—teaching myself different ways to apply color, what types to use etc rather than the color having a specific meaning or purpose in the works.
During that period, my use of color was focused primarily on the educational aspect—an opportunity to self-teach different ways to apply color and what types to use. At the time the incorporation of color in my work did not have a specific meaning or purpose.
Over the past decade, I have not done a lot of printmaking due to a lack of access to presses and other resources. However, about five years ago when I looked at my drawings, I realized that I was still applying color as a printmaker would.
My black ink line work is overlayed with color, either in blocks or splashes. It was a truly interesting moment when I realized that the printmaking training I underwent two decades ago continued to have a significant impact on my current work, even without my conscious awareness.
Right now, I choose to use a pen as my medium due to its inherent permanence. In my current body of work, I explore themes such as gender and identity, with a specific focus on my own personal journey as a transgender person.
I'm drawing in pen because it's symbolic of my identity. It's real, permanent, and cannot be erased by bigotry and small-minded ideas.
You mention how your use of color in your artwork is intentional and carries symbolic meaning. Could you elaborate on how you select and incorporate colors to add depth, complexity, and meaning to your pieces?
Over the last few years, my use of color has been shaped by a combination of influences, including queer pride flags and the stereotypical associations of colors with binary gender identities of male and female.
When employing color blocks in my artwork, it feels as though I'm deconstructing a pride flag. First, I lay down the blocks of color, then subsequently, I draw the human figure over the top in pen. The abstract application of paint, to me, still embodies and represents the essence of a figure.
I get models to pose for me in positions that complement the color and shapes. I love the contrast between the abstract colors with the fine line and high-detail human form.
For me, it reflects the contrast between queer and straight, CIS and non-CIS, binary and non-binary. I feel like I live in a bubble of contrasting ideas to that of the majority.
Marce King, 'Embrace Differences', 46 x 46 cm, (18.11 x 18.11 in)
What impact do you hope your artwork will have on viewers?
I hope my artwork makes people question...
Question my style, my ability, the emotions I'm portraying, and the themes and topics I'm drawing about.
I hope that my most recent work makes people question the social construct that is gender. I hope they see or sense a connection between queer people and the queer community.
I hope, generally, people feel something when they see my work—and I honestly don't mind what that feeling is.
Love it or hate it, I would say any response to my work would mean it's done its job.
What does success as an artist mean to you?
Marce King, Universal 2.11, 7.8 x 7.8 cm, (3.07 x 3.07 in)
Why did you decide to use Artwork Archive to inventory/manage your artwork?
In 2020, I decided to say goodbye to my corporate job and focus on my art career full-time.
I've been an artist for over twenty years, I've had many solo and group shows, but at the same time, I've always balanced art with another full-time job.
When I decided that art would be my full-time job, I realized I needed to get a lot more organized.
In terms of my art practice, one aspect that needed improvement was the organization of my artwork images and keeping track of exhibition history and important collectors. I knew that if I was going to be successful, this was an area that needed to change.
I explored a lot of different options and experimented with different solutions. Ultimately, Artwork Archive was hands down the best platform that met all my needs.
How do you use Artwork Archive on a daily basis?
On a daily basis, I photograph my work, upload it into Artwork Archive, and record all the details such as name, size, medium, and price.
I can then use that information at any time to record things such as: where my artwork is currently located, where it has been exhibited, who has purchased what, and where they purchased it from.
One of my favorite features is being able to generate a Certificate of Authenticity or a full Catalog for an exhibition at the push of a button.
Marce King, 'Stormy Views', 65 x 65 cm (25.59 x 25.59 in)
What advice would you give an emerging artist during this time?
Make art, then make more art.
You can't exhibit, sell or share your work if it doesn't exist :)
Decide what type of art career you'd like to have
Do you want to be represented by a gallery, show your work at art fairs, sell your artwork privately, sell your artwork on products, or another avenue?
Make a business plan
Write a 3-5 year business plan on how you're going to get there. Make your business plan SMART: specific, measurable, and achievable. relevant and time-boxed.
Marce King uses Artwork Archive to track their artwork, have relevant information handy, generate Certificates of Authenticity, and so much more.
You can make an online portfolio, catalog your artwork, and generate reports like inventory reports, tear sheets, and invoices in seconds with Artwork Archive. Take a look at Artwork Archive's free trial and start growing your art business.
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