“A master at accumulating and assembling quotidian materials to create art objects that also serve as uncommon altars and shrines to our past…these ships are suspended in one continuous current that moves tpwards the gallery’s windows as if pouring out onto the bustling cityscape of midtown Manhatten. Floating on this tide are scraps and treasures from our shared histories which have left indelible imprints on our national narratives, even as we erase them from our concious thoughts…Locke offers us a maritime procession – at once celebratory and funereal – that is animated by the sub-marine pulse of history…a synthesis of symbols from intertwined historical and cultural legends and narratives…disparate legacies that surf the waves.” – Zoe Lukov, Faena Art
‘The wine dark sea’ is a description of the Mediterranean used by Homer throughout The Odyssey, and the phrase is repeated by Derek Walcott in his epic poem Omeros, set mainly in the Caribbean and referencing characters from The Iliad. This visual poem incorporates customised models of contemporary and historically resonant vessels – clippers and cargo ships, battleships and lifeboats – filled with hope, potential prosperity and gratification, as well as despair, anguish, and suffering. A ship is a symbolic object; vessel of the soul, means of escape, both safety and danger. No crew are visible – the boats themselves stand for crew and passengers.
