Born in Buckinghamshire,1959 to professional painters Jeremy and Brenda King, visual art has always been a background to Jo's life.

Although his parents never formally trained him, he was influenced by watching them at work, and studied 0 and A level art at school.

After graduating in 1981 from Dartington College of Arts with a BA degree in theatre, he moved to Holland and worked as a cabaret entertainer.

His training and experience as a professional performer and musician led to a fascination with the human body both in dance and figurative art.

In 1989 he returned to Britain and commenced what was to become an 8 year period of working for the highly acclaimed mask and puppet company Horse + Bamboo, directed by painter Bob Frith.

In 1998 he started attending life classes run by Bohuslav Barlow, Kathryn Mernagh Cook and Frank Nelson in Todmorden, Lancashire.
From then on he started to take his painting skills more seriously and devoted more and more time to painting and developing his technique.

In 2002 he moved to Spain and was very influenced by the way strong sunlight and deep shadows define three dimensional forms.
This sense of strong directional light has remained very evident in his art work and relates to his theatrical background.

Unconcerned with fickle fads and fashions of the art world, his influences range from Andrew Wyeth, Alphonse Mucha, Egon Schiele and Norman Rockwell to Neo Classical works, early photography and an enduring passion for Film Noir.

He now lives and paints in Zaltbommel in the Netherlands, where he was elected a member of the Bommelse Kunst Route in 2010.

Publications

2011 "Het Beelt Geft De Aawijzing" by Jan Groenendijk, featuring work from Jo King and the other members of the Bommelse Kunstroute.

Exhibitions

To date he has exhibited at :

Bare Arts Gallery, Todmorden 1999 - 2002

Nerja Antiguedades, Andalucia, Spain 2003 - 2006

The Glass House Gallery, Penzance 2006 - 2007

The Drawing Room, Chesham 2007

Leeds City Art Gallery open exhibition 2007

( Also In 2007, one of Jo's oil paintings was shortlisted out of 12,000 entries for the Summer Exibition at the Royal Academy )

Philomena's Art House, Brigham in Cumbria 2007 - 2008

Saatchi Online 2009 - 2011

Art fairs with Steve Marsling Fine Arts 2008-11

Royal College Of Art

Chelsea Art Fair

Buxton Art Fair

Chester Race Course Art Fair

Tatton Park Cheshire Art Fair

Snape Art Fair, Suffolk

Edinburgh Art Fair

Cambridge Art Fair

Devon Art Fair, Torquay

2011

March 17 - 23 ............................De Poorterij Theater, Zaltbommel, Netherlands

March 31 - April 3 ................... Artparis, Grand Palais, Paris ( via Saatchionline )

June 18,19,25,26................... Bommelse Kunst Route, Zaltbommel, Netherlands www.bommelsekunstroute.nl

Sep 2 - Oct 7 .......................... De Poorterij Theatre, Zaltbommel, Netherlands ("Uit De Bommels Kunstbezit" a collection of privately owned works from the Zaltbommel kunstroute artists. )