Ron King, born in Wenatchee, and raised in Manson, Washington, spent his childhood engrossed in reading and enjoying the pristine beauty of Lake Chelan while not helping his father on the family apple orchard. Both his parents had an artistic inclination, with his mother being an award-winning florist and designer in her own right. These familial artistic influences, along with his rich, natural surroundings, built a strong creative foundation in Ron, indicating his future journey as an artist.

But art was not the only field that intrigued Ron. He pursued a B.A. degree in anthropology, revealing a quest for understanding cultural lineage and human behavior—a fascination that later manifested in his artistic career. However, his dream of an anthropology career was abruptly halted by a terminal illness diagnosis. But Ron fought his illness and eventually began a new journey in professional photography.

Unlike traditional photographers who aim for crystal-clear portrayals of reality, Ron was drawn to the abstract world in his personal photographic journey, which was largely separate from his professional photographic career which was more centered on traditional portrait and wedding photography. This abstract fascination steered his photography works away from reality and toward a world rich in imagination and interpretation.

However, Ron’s life took another unexpected turn following a failed Lasik surgery. Forced to abandon his career in photography, a new wave of inspiration came from the very thing that ended it: his altered vision. Mesmerized by the sinuous streaks (Hancock Lines*) he saw when looking at bright lights, he set out to capture and share this experience with others, ultimately leading him into a new and unexplored artistic territory.

After several years of relentless trials and experimentation, in 2016 Ron finally developed the technique that allowed him to share his unique altered vision with the rest of the world. He began creating images that transcended the photographic realm, employing an art technique known as pareidolia to introduce very subtle images or ideas within his photographs—often unrelated to the original.

His work was once described as “visually sweet, melting like chocolate in your brain” and has been said to create an “artful bridge between reality and what his unique vision sees just beyond.”

While fully immersed in the art world, Ron remains a dedicated generalist, constantly seeking relationships between different disciplines, which further enriches his artistic creations. When he isn’t creating, he enjoys reading non-fiction, a passion that continues to feed his insatiable curiosity about the world and human behavior as well as exploring the challenges of playing jazz piano.

In his distinctive journey of resilience and reinvention, Ron King has not just created an extraordinary style of art, but also demonstrated the power of the human spirit to find inspiration even amid adversity. Ron’s work beautifully encapsulates his personal story as well as offering a unique insight into a mesmerizing world of abstract imagery that resides just beyond reality.

*Named in honor of the surgeon who did the surgery.