Anglo-Guyanese artist Hew Locke’s first solo exhibition ‘The Wine Dark Sea’ opened on Wednesday last at the Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Arts Gallery in Manhattan.
According to a press release, ‘The Wine Dark Sea’ which will run until April 1, presents new works by the artist that highlight his acclaimed sculpture of boats, which occupy an important place in his personal iconography.
This exhibition comprises 25 vessels of varied scale and hues, which are suspended from the ceiling, creating a flotilla at eye level. Incorporating contemporary and historically resonant vessels – clippers and container ships, battleships and lifeboats – Locke has created a spectacular sculptural environment in the gallery, the release said.
Locke’s work articulates this environment as filled with hope, potential prosperity and gratification, as well as despair, anguish and suffering. This narrative resonates deeply not only with the tides of refugees fleeing to the sea from the war, oppression and poverty, but also with those viewers for whom migration and displacement are part of family history. A ship is a symbolic object; vessel of the soul, means of escape, both safety and danger, the release stated.
It quoted Locke as saying, “We’re all floating on the same ocean. As a child and young man, I sailed the Atlantic. At sea, a twist of fate can send a super-yacht down – it can be an equaliser between rich and poor.”
Son of Guyanese artist Donald Locke, he was born in Scotland, but grew up in Georgetown, before returning to Britain for his university education.
Locke’s work has been exhibited around the globe, most recently at the Tate Britain. His bronze pieces ‘The Jurors’, 12 bronze chairs, each decorated with images and symbols relating to past and ongoing struggles for freedom, rule of law and equal rights, debuted in Runnymede, UK, on June 15 last year. The pieces which mark the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta will remain there as a permanent public artwork. Locke’s work is additionally represented in the collections of Tate Gallery (UK), the Brooklyn Museum (New York), the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (US), Kansas City Collection (US), the RISD Museum (Rhode Island), Victoria & Albert Museum Drawing Collection (London), and the British Museum (London), the release said.
