David Lock’s paintings utilise a collagist approach. He pieces together body parts from a variety of sources to construct ambiguous paintings which question both beauty and the imperfect, whilst retaining a sensitivity that is both vulnerable and uncanny. His paintings seek to question contemporary notions of masculinity towards something more awkward and troubling than the idealized subjects in which they are derived from. Seeking to turn the image against itself, the new configurations embody fragments of the original source within their new fractured iconography. His motivations for the use of the male, exposes an underlying uncertainty about the male’s status in contemporary culture and the role he should fulfill within it. Lock is interested in the notion of ‘lack’, which is counter-produced by the social systems in which our desires are invested. He seeks to harness this risidual lack, to feed his own constructs. Lock’s interest in coalescing the ‘body in pieces’ is to expose notions of difference. Uniting fragments in this way, represents for him, a sense of contingency-both of a constantly shifting dynamic of the body in flux, but also of an open ended play of signification which freely generates new meanings.
David Lock graduated from Goldsmiths’ London with an MA in Fine Art in 2001, following a BA (hons) in Fine Art from University of Reading in 1999. Upon graduation he joined Candoco Dance Company as a dancer for several years, before returning to his fine art practice in 2005.
He has exhibited his work both nationally and internationally. Following a solo show at Fred, London in 2007, Lock had a solo show at Zoo Art Fair, London, as a Prizewinner for the John Jones ‘Art on Paper’ acquisition award in conjunction with Zoo Art Fair, London.
Lock is a recent recipient of the prestigious Abbey Award, at the British School at Rome between October 2011-June 2012. Recent commissions include designing a stage set for Candoco’s 20th anniversary season ‘Turning 20’, in association with Trisha Brown Dance Company.
