Pork Knocker Dreams

Recent work by Donald Locke

 

Curated by Indra Khanna and produced in partnership with New Art Exchange

 

Dates: Saturday 26 September - Saturday 19 December 2009

Exhibition opening times: Monday to Friday 10am - 7pm and Saturday 10am - 5pm

Admission: Free

 

Donald Locke's influence has been acknowledged in seminal exhibitions such as 'Back to Black' and 'The Other Story', and now is an opportunity for his work to be presented to a wider and younger public.  With this, his first solo show in the UK since the 1970's, we loudly reassert his place in British Art.

 

Pork Knockers are the gold prospectors of Guyana, intrepid individuals who, like the cowboys of the Wild West, are part of the national identity and of whom many tales are told.  Searching the jungle that is the site of the mythical El Dorado, Locke's own father earned the nick-name 'Dunnamite Dan' for his prospecting exploits, rapidly fashioning a new canoe in the bush when the one carrying him and his companions was smashed in the rapids.

 

 

Locke is an artist whose work has explored both Modernism and folk art, and who has intimate knowledge of Western culture, and that of the Caribbean and the southern states of America. A contemporary of artists such as Frank Bowling and Aubrey Williams, he was one of a generation of 'scholarship artists' who travelled to Britain to study in the 1950's. Returning home to Guyana in the year of its independence, he used Modernism allied with traditional arts to help mould a New International style.  In 1971 he represented Guyana at The 12th Sao Paulo Biennial.

 

He moved permanently to the US after receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1979, and has had major solo shows at Tucson Museum of Art, The Aljira Center for Contemporary Arts and Skoto Gallery, both in New York and The City Gallery, Atlanta amongst others. Now in his 70’s, Locke is a vigorous artist who continues to push his practise forward, and ' Pork-Knocker Dreams' concentrates on work made during the last 10 years.

 

 

The exhibition includes approximately 50 sculptures and paintings, many utilising natural or printed found objects, and is accompanied by a full programme of talks, workshops and live music events, including an audience with Donald Locke, hosted by David A Bailey on Saturday 26th September 2009, from 2pm.

 

Now in his 70’s, Locke is a vigorous artist who continues to push his practise forward, and ‘ Pork-Knocker Dreams’ concentrates on work made during the last 10 years.

Please also check out our EDUCATION and EVENTS PROGRAMME accompanying Pork Knocker Dreams, with further details in the Events section:

* Friday 25 September :: Private View, 6 - 9pm
* Saturday 26 September :: David A Bailey in conversation with Donald Locke, 2pm
* Saturday 24 October :: Gallery Tour with Hew Locke, 2pm
* Mon 2 - Wed 4 November :: Pottery Workshops with Madge Spencer, from 10am
* Friday 13 November :: Keith Waithe music workshop with Jo Jo Yates (Ghanian Cora and singer) and Sandra Agard (storyteller), from 10am
* Friday 13 November :: Keith Waithe - LIVE, Award-winning flautist and composer, Waithe explores an original fusion of Jazz, classical, African, Caribbean, Asian and Western sounds, 7.30pm (£5)
* Thursday 10 December :: ‘Sprinkling of Demerera’ - Soulful Rock Acoustic set from Cassava and full live band, 7.30pm (£5)

Photographs by Bartosz Kali