King is recognised as one of Australia’s foremost contemporary printmakers. As well as completing residencies in France, Morocco, India and Antarctica, he has won numerous awards, including the WAMA Art Prize (2023), National Print and Drawing Prize (2022), Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award (2022) and Muswellbrook Drawing Prize (2019). His work can be found in public collections at the British Museum, National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and Art Gallery of New South Wales, among others.

Martin King’s ‘Overflow II’ is a meditation on paradoxes. A bold print centered on the silhouette of a bird, this work explores the shifting dynamics of flight—its flow and flux—rendered in a form that is both immediately recognisable and deliberately ambiguous. The solid tone of the every bird, devoid of internal detail, obscures specific species or identity, transforming it into a graphic emblem of motion and memory. This abstraction invites viewers to project their own interpretations, evoking the fleeting, often elusive quality of recollection.

Senior Printmaker at the Australian Print Workshop since 1994, King’s work is elegant, evocative and esteemed. Rooted in the artists boyhood fascination with avian forms, falconry and adornment, the piece holds particular allure for collectors drawn to the mysterious and symbolic nature of flight—those who find resonance in the intersection of presence and absence, clarity and obscurity.

Martin KING (1957 - )
'overflow II'
photopolymer gravure and chine colle on paper
Image Size: 44 x 134 cm
Dimensions: 54 x 141 cm
Signed: Signed, editioned and titled under image
Comes with Letter of Provenance
Condition:Excellent:
(c) The Artist or Assignee