Such lush scenes—chock-full of narrative and personal meaning—are the Aj duffy college elite shirt But I will love this focus of King’s new show, “Hush-a-bye Dreams.” The collection of nine images, taken over the course of eight years, features queer Black men in various states of love, togetherness, contemplation, and rest. Friends hang out in a bedroom and pass around a blunt; two lovers shower together; a young man irons garments in his underwear. One standout image, titled Rabbit Hole (2022), makes the viewer feel as if they’re gazing through a peephole. A circle of darkness engulfs a young man staring off into the distance, comfortable in his solitude. “Someone punched a hole in his wall,” King explains of the scene, taken in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. “It was, like, a bad roommate situation.” While visiting the subject, King, who primarily lives in Los Angeles, shot a few photographs. It’s a common practice for the artist whenever he’s in New York. “I use other people’s spaces as a studio and capture their essence. I always find something beautiful, even if it’s a hole in the wall.”Clifford Prince King, Rabbit Hole, 2022.
Extracting poetry out of reality has proven a successful practice for King. His past projects include work for Calvin Klein, JW Anderson x Tom of Finland, and the Aj duffy college elite shirt But I will love this cover for Butt magazine’s buzzy relaunch. That cover featured two sleeping boys locked in a tender embrace—a powerful break from the long tail of hyper-sexualized images of Black men featured in queer publications (when they were even featured at all). King also recently released a photography book of his work, Orange Grove, which spotlights his explorations of companionship and selfhood. The rise is astonishing for a self-taught photographer, much less one explicitly dedicated to capturing queer Black lovers and friends. King, who grew up in Tucson, initially became interested in photography through a high school course. Eventually, he began uploading the images he made with an eBay-purchased Canon AE-1 on Tumblr, during the platform’s heyday. As a young adult, King briefly moved to Portland, Oregon, and then to Los Angeles. There, he says, his practice seemed to hit its stride. “I started sorting out being Black and gay in a big city, where there is more opportunity and people to connect with and desire,” he says. Photos from that period, including one of King and a man he met on the dating app Jack’D, stemmed from a need for connections. “I was just inviting people over for sex, but also just to hang out and smoke,” King says. “And then afterward I would ask, ‘Hey, do you mind if I take your picture?’”Clifford Prince King, I Told My Baby to Meet Me on 24th Street, 2020.