Tarka Kings: Mornings at the Lido
Offer Waterman is delighted to announce Mornings at the Lido, an exhibition of new works by acclaimed artist Tarka Kings. In her third solo exhibition at the gallery, Kings explores the daily ritual of outdoor swimming at the Serpentine in London, a place of tranquillity in the heart of the city. Celebrated for her masterful handling of graphite and coloured pencil, a process she has used almost exclusively since 2008, these drawings on paper and panel capture Kings' close and contemplative observation of the human figure and landscape.
Kings' relationship with water, and its dynamic within the city of London, is an integral part of her work. Not only does she herself swim in the Serpentine almost every day, but her new studio is based on the River Thames. In preparation for the exhibition, Kings has worked closely with a model, drawing from photographs and life to create works that capture the most intimate and personal aspects of wild swimming.
Kings constructs images through the application of hundreds of tiny drawn marks, with complex new colours emerging from the interaction of colours placed side by side or layered one over the other. Imbued with subtlety through her unrivalled draughtsmanship and true mastery of her chosen medium, these drawings convey an intimate sense of time and place. Unashamedly beautiful, Kings' images demonstrate an unrivalled understanding of colour and light, informed by the work of Georges Seurat, Gerhard Richter and Ed Ruscha.
A graduate of the Royal Academy Schools, Kings has been exhibited internationally and completed numerous commissions for private collectors and public spaces including Chatsworth House, Maggie's Centre in Glasgow, and, most recently, the newly opened San Vicente in New York for interior designer Rose Uniacke.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, with a text by art writer Lily Le Brun, author of the book Looking to Sea: What Coastal Art tells us About Modern Britain.
Rees & Co, London
