New Exhibition: Steve Locke "the daily practice of painting"
Steve Locke’s work questions how we ascribe meaning to portraiture. Speaking about the series when you’re a boy…, which he began in 2005, Locke says that he makes “drawings and paintings that explore relationships between and among men. The exchange of looks, the privilege of looking and the wish to be seen are positions I explore to reveal the ways men respond, desire, and relate to each other.” Artist Statement I believe in work. It has been my most reliable solution. I have never believed in inspiration or safety as a condition for work or for anything else. The former is unreliable and the latter is a stranger to me. If a sense of safety were a necessity to being an artist, I never would have become one. I did not want to have to depend on something or someone outside of me to make my work. I did not want to have to look for validation or support or welcome or encouragement because I knew from bitter experience that those things are subject to whims and fashion. I could not build a practice on anything on which I could not depend. That meant that I had to develop a sense of things I thought were worth investigating and a sense of what is at stake in being an artist alive at this moment. The things that interest me as an artist today are the same things that have interested me my entire life. Even though the materials of the work may shift, the concerns are the same across all of the bodies of work. What some people think of as ventures into other media are for me an extension of my practice as a painter. So I work everyday in some way. These paintings are an example of my daily practice. They are 6 x 6 inches square on Claybord. Most are gouache, a couple are casein, and a few are high flow acrylic, and they are uploaded in close to chronological order with a few exceptions (the last paintings are the latest). No one asked me to make them and no one needs them. They are the work I do every day. Opening Reception Thursday, October 13, 5-7 PM Moss Arts Center Grand Lobby Free
Date and Time
Thursday Oct 13, 2022 Saturday Dec 17, 2022
Steve Locke’s work questions how we ascribe meaning to portraiture. Speaking about the series when you’re a boy…, which he began in 2005, Locke says that he makes “drawings and paintings that explore relationships between and among men. The exchange of looks, the privilege of looking and the wish to be seen are positions I explore to reveal the ways men respond, desire, and relate to each other.” Artist Statement I believe in work. It has been my most reliable solution. I have never believed in inspiration or safety as a condition for work or for anything else. The former is unreliable and the latter is a stranger to me. If a sense of safety were a necessity to being an artist, I never would have become one. I did not want to have to depend on something or someone outside of me to make my work. I did not want to have to look for validation or support or welcome or encouragement because I knew from bitter experience that those things are subject to whims and fashion. I could not build a practice on anything on which I could not depend. That meant that I had to develop a sense of things I thought were worth investigating and a sense of what is at stake in being an artist alive at this moment. The things that interest me as an artist today are the same things that have interested me my entire life. Even though the materials of the work may shift, the concerns are the same across all of the bodies of work. What some people think of as ventures into other media are for me an extension of my practice as a painter. So I work everyday in some way. These paintings are an example of my daily practice. They are 6 x 6 inches square on Claybord. Most are gouache, a couple are casein, and a few are high flow acrylic, and they are uploaded in close to chronological order with a few exceptions (the last paintings are the latest). No one asked me to make them and no one needs them. They are the work I do every day. Opening Reception Thursday, October 13, 5-7 PM Moss Arts Center Grand Lobby Free
Location
Moss Arts Center 190 Alumni Mall Blacksburg, VA 24061
Fees/Admission
Free
