Crystal Kings

Paintings, animation, and installations. Since 2009

Luciferous Radii by Happy Sleepy, 120" x 59", acrylic gouache on paper mounted on dibond, 2011

People sitting in front of the Crystal Kings Blazing installation

Visitors at the Artist Project 2016 bask in the glow of Crystal King Toad (painting) and Crystal King Lagoon (vinyl banner)

The Crystal Kings were first shown in Let's Glow, an exhibition at the Kitchener Waterloo Gallery in March 2012. A new, hybrid set of four paintings was made in 2013, followed by a very large scale installation of vinyl banners and painting in 2016 for the Artist Project front entrance winning competition entry.

Crystal Kings Blazing vinyl banners, 2016
Crystal Kings hybrid paintings and giclee on canvas, 2013
Crystal Kings animations, 2012 - ongoing
Crystal Kings paintings on paper mounted to dibond, 2009 to 2012

Crystal Kings 2018

Crystal King Transistor

This set of paintings used a hybrid process of printing just the colours on canvas and mounting on stretchers. Many colors could not be produced by the printer as intended, such as the deep velvety blues an dpurples and fuschias and were painted by hand. This series uses an abundance of 22 karat gold foil. At the end, all the black lines are painted on freehand with a brush.

18″ x 24″ x 3″
Archival pigment inkjet, 22K gold leaf, and acrylic gouache on canvas on a wood stretcher.

Some of these paintings are available for sale in the Crystal Kings section of the shop.

Crystal King Chapeau

Crystal King Chocolate Milk

Crystal King Pink Borealis

Crystal King Blue Brow

Crystal King Blue Butterfly

Crystal King Coda Cobra

Crystal Kings 2013

Crystal King Bunny, acrylic gouache, 22K gold foil, and archival inkjet on canvas, 36" x 48" archival inkjet on canvas, 2013.

This set of paintings used a hybrid process of printing just the colours on canvas and mounting on stretchers. Those colors that could not be produced by the printer were then painted by hand. 22 karat gold foil and aluminium foil (for the "silver") was also added.

36" x 48" x 3"

At the end, all the black lines are painted on freehand with a brush.

Crystal King Firecat (Ice Bird), 3 x 4 feet x 3 inches, archival inkjet on canvas, 22K gold foil, and acrylic gouache.

Crystal King Ape, 3 x 4 feet x 3 inches, archival inkjet on canvas, 22K gold foil, and acrylic gouache.

Crystal King Toad, acrylic gouache, 22K gold foil, and archival inkjet on canvas, 36" x 48" archival inkjet on canvas, 2013.

Crystal Kings 2009 to 2012

The original Crystal Kings are painted with acrylic gouache, pearlescent, metallic and day-glo paints, and feature an ultra matte black gouache that makes them seem to be painted on black velvet. The effect is super flat and very matte, and the colors are very bright. The effect is true flat gouache and some people mistake the medium for inkjet.