For Houston artist Michael “Madd Kyng” Temple, there’s no limit to what form art can take. His ability to use any medium as a canvas has hailed the attention of exhibits both in the states and overseas. Supported by all elements of his formal education and extensive hands on experience, Temple has perfected his natural-born gift into a precise craft. The multi-talented artists recently spoke with Texas Trend Magazine about his current work, past accomplishments, and future projects. When it comes to transferring ideas from paper, onto walls, or into sculptures, the possibilities are endless in Temple’s artful wingspan.
Also known as Madd Kyng, an optimistic acronym meaning, “mentally advanced driven dreamer” (m.a.a.d) “know yourself never give” (k.y.n.g”) Michael Temple has such a long list of talents that some would label him as a jack of all trades. He, however, is addiment of only working with the many forms he’s mastered. Working as a muralist, painter, tattoo artist, and designer, Temple’s skill for art wasn’t just some discovery at a random point in life, but rather a part of his day to day living growing up that he took seriously from a young age.
“As kids we’re all kind of creative, you know, we all like to draw. In second grade I won a blue ribbon from the Texas rodeo. I already had a feeling when that first happened that I could do this for my life. I just kinda kept that creative ambition going. At one point it was very dormant because I focused more on sports, but my Mom still did Paint by Numbers, so I watched her doing that growing up. My dad was in prison and did a lot of sketching. Sometimes I’d get to see some of his drawings. There’d be animations like Spiderman and other comic book characters that were very well sketched out. By my senior year, I got some senor-itis. I started to do a lot more sketching during class while waiting to graduate and got better drawing portraits.”
As much as Temple enjoyed working on his art, he initially began his college path in a completely different field. “I had a whole job lined up in the financial sector, my step dad was a financial advisor. So I basically was just going to school follow his footsteps in a sense. I initially went to school for business finance. After a semester I knew it was something I wasn’t going to be passionate about. I just wanted to trail back on to something that I knew I was already pretty decent at after taking only one or two art classes. Statistics kicked my butt, but I got through it, and stuck with art throughout college. I just wanted to be a creator, I didn’t know what I wanted to do yet.”
Taking on his pursuit of art as a career, he didn’t look back, and the rest has been history. Madd Kyng has sense travelled the world taking on grand projects and being featured in multiple exhibits.
In 2023 Temple, aka Madd Kyng, painted a slingshot (vehicle) for a special March Madness project. The car was completely covered in colorful geometric patterns and a replica of a basketball around the bottom half that showed a clear dedication to the annual basketball event. The average person may assume this work would have taken weeks to complete, but Temple’s advanced skills had the job done in only 72 hours. “I had only three days to paint. Pretty short. But once I see the design made, the execution for it is pretty quick. It usually takes me two to three days tops, depending on how detailed the work is.” A lot of his work is featured on his social media showcasing a variety of his styles. One of many notable posts shared was a 2D room Madd Kyng made for Harper DAEP High School.
When it comes to drawing murals, and mock ups, Temple speaks on how a large part of these connections come from staying engaged with partners, organizations, businesses, and other artists. “Being a part of organizations that allow you to network and open doors for yourself and others. One of the biggest organizations that I was glad to be a part of is Art Dazzle and their different affiliates. I got to travel to Miami, New York, Germany, Switzerland, Amsterdam, London. That affiliation opened a lot of doors to new audiences for my art to be exposed to. That’s the main thing, getting your art exposed to more and more people.”
Through all of the changing art forms and mediums, Temple has still managed to create a uniquely original character named Gensho. This character’s story will be told through a growing collection of painted and printed pieces for collectors to explore. “I was influenced to 3d print my character a few years ago. I majored in painting and printmaking. The science of pattern or texture being produced, is more demure. Art can be made without formal education, but I still ended up getting my degree so that I can learn techniques. I think that’s what really sets me apart from a lot of other artists who are self-taught. Self-taught will only get you so far. I learned how to actually manifest ideas and how to actually deliver a message across in a better visual. Someone might have a natural skill that you can’t teach, like singing; but they can still benefit from having some show them how to do this and that, techniques that will help them be better and stand apart. Even Beyonce has a vocal coach. You’re gonna have to have some kind of teacher or mentor. The techniques you learn as an artists are hard to implement and get a total grasp on them until you’ve mastered other techniques. That’s what causes you to grow as an artist, and become more of a storyteller vs just making an image everyone might like.”
Instagram: @maddkyng
Website: www.maddking.com
