Clifford Prince King’s Tender Portraits of Black Male Intimacy

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LA-based artistic Clifford P. King makes use of pictures to doc his experiences as a queer Black man. By way of his lens, he honors and celebrates on a regular basis rituals, capturing the great thing about communion with intimacy and charm. His cinematic portraits have been featured on the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in Los Angeles, the Leslie Lohman Museum in New York Metropolis, the Beverly Hills-based Marc Selwyn Gallery and extra. In his assortment of pictures titled, We Used to Lay Collectively, King explores affection in all varieties. His topics take middle stage amid heat lighting, lush greenery and home settings. The imagery is delicate and poetic, cinematic and erotic. We caught up with the lensman for an exploration of his work and inventive imaginative and prescient.

“Most occasions I simply go exterior with my digital camera and no matter feels good, I seize with associates I am with,” says King of this 2022 portrait titled, “Michael.” (Picture by Clifford P. King)

“I am susceptible all through my work with hopes of permitting freedom and expression for myself.”

Titled “Communion,” nostalgia was the inspiration behind this {photograph}. (Picture by Clifford P. King)

When did you first fall in love with pictures?As a baby. Undecided how or why, however I used to be all the time involved in disposable cameras and taking photos of relations.

What evokes your work?Primarily my feelings, environment and cinema. My photographs are a time stamp of the place I am at in my life and turn out to be proof of my existence.

King’s 2019 picture, “Como Park” was taken on a spring afternoon in Dallas,Texas. (Picture by Clifford P. King)

How did you carve out your fashion and the way would you describe it?My fashion is a mirrored image of my photographic eye. But additionally, I take a look at lighting, empty house and time of day.I’d describe my fashion as life like fantasy, in addition to within the second.

How do you employ pictures to amplify your experiences as a queer Black man?My pictures serves as a private visible diary. I am susceptible all through my work with hopes of permitting freedom and expression for myself and hopefully others. So I suppose, not essentially amplify, however moreso, to make my queer expertise evidential.

King (sitting on the ground) used a ten second self timer to seize this 2020 picture titled “Secure Area.” (Picture by Clifford P. King)

A lot of your topics are folks that you realize personally. How do you go about selecting who to {photograph} and does it ever turn out to be difficult working with folks you realize?I believe it is based mostly on power and who I will be most open and explorative with. I do not all the time have my imaginative and prescient arrange, so typically it is good to encompass myself with folks I will be candid with. There’s a spark and/or imaginative and prescient that manifests whereas collectively in an area.

Taken in 2019, this picture is a nonetheless from King’s brief movie, “Rising Every Day.” (Picture by Clifford P. King)

What do you hope viewers will take out of your work?As of currently, I’d hope that viewers can discover magnificence and worth amongst the folks of their on a regular basis lives.Typically that ‘factor’ you have been in search of for therefore lengthy is correct in entrance of you. By being current and searching deeper, you could find it.