David King Publications 1977 - 2019

David King Publications 1977–2019 is the first published survey of David King’s book projects and graphic design work. David King (1948–2019) was a British-born artist, graphic designer, and musician best known for designing the Crass symbol. His many varied projects encompassed design, drawing, photography, sculpture, film, video, radio plays and more.

King was a core member of the New York no wave band Arsenal, and later the San Francisco post-punk bands Sleeping Dogs and Brain Rust. He generated hundreds of flyers for these bands and others during the period of 1977–1988, as well as creating logos, brand identities and posters for nightclubs like Danceteria, Pravda and the Peppermint Lounge in New York, and the I-Beam in San Francisco.

King made dozens of Xeroxed and offset zines in the late 70s and 80s that often accompanied his music projects. In the early 2000s he began self-publishing highly idiosyncratic small-run books with subjects ranging from photographs of J.G. Ballard’s home to rock formations seen in early Western films. In the later 2000s he released numerous books of graphic design and photography through Colpa Press, &Pens and Gingko Press.

This book seeks to introduce readers to King’s small-press publishing projects, as well as his zines, ephemera and illustration work. It accompanies the exhibition of the same name at San Francisco Center for the Book in 2024. 

Colpa Press/San Francisco Center for the Book, 120pp, 16.5cm × 23cm, illustrated paperback, 2024