Artist of the month - Margot King

Margot King is a self taught artist that grew up in Brooklyn Heights, NYC and studied Chinese Philosophy at a progressive high school. She continued her study of philosophy in college for three years, until dropping out to care for her mother. At the age of 22 Margot lost her mother to suicide which put her on an introspective path alone. Later as an adult King tried to recapture her childhood, which was lost in a home fire, by surrounding herself with toys and animals that had been lost. These lost treasures gave her the creative voice in her paintings. After woking for a some major advertising and marketing agencies in NYC, she moved to Baltimore, Maryland with her boyfriend in the early 1980's. Fueled by a few  jobs that put her in "Me Too" situations, she decided to work for herself and opened Retro, a vintage clothing and fantastic oddities store which she later shared ownership with, with her ex-boyfriend. Always driven by her father's mantra "Discipline equals freedom" and his words of encouragement - to pursue what you are passionate about with conviction, Margot reconnected with her artistic drive, and began to paint in a room above Retro on her days off. Long had she studied the detail and paint strokes of the masters like Sargent, Rembrandt, and Whistler at the MMOA while growing up in NYC, she now began to create her own work. King, honed her skills with weekend classes in life drawing and oil painting. She has been going strong since and her work reflects the skills of the masters she studied as well as the joys and sorrows that create the tapestry of life. Sometimes surreal and fantastic and other times solemn, serene, and introspective. Animals have always been an important part of her life and it reflects in her exquisite paintings. It was quite difficult to choose one painting to use for the post, because I love all of her work for different reasons, especially the animals she paints that are dressed and posed like humans. I ended up picking the above painting entitled Witness, because of how it highlights the drama and cycle of life, inside a small corner of a garden, with the oil skill of the masters that she so perfectly executes. A superb example of what she is all about. Margot has lived in Chestertown, MD for 14 years where she paints full time and lives with her husband and four rescued ex-feral cats. 

Follow Margot King on Facebook and Instagram, and discover more about her wide range of work and what is available to purchase (at a very accessible price range) on her websites.

Website - Margotkingstudio.com

Purchase - margotkingart.bigcartel.com

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/margotking.studio

Instagram - ​www.instagram.com/margot_king_studio