Curriculum Vitae
Locke was born in Edinburgh, UK, in 1959; lived from 1966 to 1980 in Georgetown, Guyana; and is currently based in London. He obtained a B.A. Fine Art in Falmouth (1988) and an M.A. Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London (1994). In 2000 he won both a Paul Hamlyn Award and an East International Award. In 2022 he was elected a member of The Royal Academy of Arts, and was made an OBE in 2023. In 2024 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Edinburgh University.
His work is represented in many collections including those of the The Government Art Collection, The Pérez Art Museum Miami, The Tate Gallery, The Arts Council of England, The National Trust, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, 21c, The New Art Gallery Walsall, The Victoria & Albert Museum, The Imperial War Museum, The British Museum and The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds.
Online Resources
Links to films about individual artworks are to be found on their specific pages
- See Locke with Prof Tim Barringer, keynote of London, Asia, Art, Worlds conference, Paul Mellon Centre for British Art, 2021 (1.04.00, conversation starts at 0.18.00)
- Listen to BBC Radio 4 panel discussion Race and the Public Space, 2020 (42.00)
- Hear What to do about Problematic Statues? and Hew Locke on Dancing Scene in the West Indies by Agostino Brunias, The Art Newspaper, 2020 (from 40 minutes)
- See Locke in conversation with Prof Hammad Nasar, Ikon Gallery, 2019 (59.35)
- See Locke talk about his practice, film by Studio International, 2019 (38.18)
- See Locke talk about his practice and influences, film by DACS/Artimage, 2013 (15.38)
- Listen to Locke talk about Charles Stanhope 3rd Earl of Harrington by Joshua Reynolds, Yale Centre of British Art, 2014 (20.09)
- See Locke in conversation with Marcus Verhagen, Tate Britain, 2009 (1.18.17)
- Visit the Hew Locke entry on Wikipedia
Social Media
Monographs
Hew Locke : what have we here?
Texts by Hew Locke, Isabel Seligman and Indra Khanna. Published 2024 by the British Museum Press. ISBN 97807 14123509.
Texts by Richard Drayton, Jonathan Watkins and Diana Tuite. Published 2019 by Ikon Gallery, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art & Colby College Museum of Art. ISBN 978-1-911155-21-8
Texts by Kobena Mercer, Indra Khanna and Jens Hoffman. Published 2011 by Black Dog Publications in association with the Arts University College at Bournemouth and ArtSway. ISBN 978-190731 7385
Hew Locke – How do you want me?
Text by the artist. Published 2009 by Editions Janninck. Limited Edition of 285 numbered copies includes an individual work of art by Hew Locke ISBN 978-2-916067-40-7. Unlimited edition, without work of art, ISBN 978-2-916067-41-4
With texts by Kris Kuramitsu and a conversation between the artist and Prof. Sarat Maharaj. Published 2005 by The New Art Gallery, Walsall. ISBN 0 946652 77 5
Selected Solo Exhibitions and Presentations
Gilt, Metropolitan Museum of Art Facade Commission, New York, USA
The Procession, Tate Britain Duveen Hall Commission, London, UK
Hew Locke; Here’s the Thing, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, Kemper Museum in Kansas City & Colby College Museum in Maine.
The Tourists, HMS Belfast, London
Give and Take, performance in the Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London. Part of Up Hill Down Hall
For Those in Peril on the Sea, St. Mary & St. Eanswythe church, Folkestone Triennial
The Kingdom of the Blind, Rivington Place, London
Restoration, St Thomas the Martyr’s Church, Bristol
Hew Locke, The New Art Gallery, Walsall
King Creole, installation on facade of Tate Britain & at BBC New Media Village, London
House of Cards Luckman Gallery, California State Uni & Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, USA
The Cardboard Palace, Chisenhale Gallery, London
Hemmed In Two, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Selected Group Exhibitions
The Sea is History, Museum of Cultural History, Oslo, Norway
Artist and Empire, Tate Britain, touring to National Gallery Singapore
XIII Bienal de Cuenca, Ecuador
Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, China
Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Fort Kochi, Kerala, India
Prospect.3: Notes for Now, Biennial, New Orleans
Global Caribbean, Little Haiti Cultural Center, Miami, USA; MIAM, Sète, France & Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Puerto Rico
Sikandar shortlisted maquette for the Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square, London
2nd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, Greece
South South: Interruptions and Encounters, Justina M Barnicke Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, Museum of Arts and Design, New York
Guangzhou Triennial, China
Infinite Island: Contemporary Caribbean Art, Brooklyn Museum, USA
Encuentro Entre dos Mares- Bienal São Paulo, Valencia Biennale, Spain
Alien Nation, ICA, London; City Art Gallery, Manchester & Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art, Norwich
British Art Show 6, BALTIC Gateshead; Manchester City Art Gallery; Nottingham Castle Museum & Bristol
Barrocos y Neobarrocos, Salamance, Spain
Hew Locke and Diana Cooper, The Drawing Room, London; Chapter Art Centre, Cardiff & The City Gallery, Leicester
Selected Press
New York Times, Bright Colors, Dark Subjects: Hew Locke’s Unsettling Pageant
The Guardian, The Procession review
The Telegraph, The Procession review
The Observer, The Procession review
The Evening Standard, The Procession preview
Art Papers, A World Before the World We Know – Interview with Hew Locke
The Guardian, Here’s the Thing review
Frieze, 30/5/19, Here’s the Thing review
The Financial Times, 30/3/19, Here’s the Thing review
The Art Newspaper, Here’s the Thing preview
The Times, Here’s the Thing review
Brooklyn Rail, Patriots review
Artnet, Patriots preview
The Art Newspaper, October issue – opinion piece responding to memorials of slave owners
ARTnews, April issue – feature and interview
Beautiful/Decay, book 8 – feature and interview
ARC magazine , issue 5 – feature Momento Mori
Small Axe, March issue – cover and lead essay Hew Locke’s Postcolonial Baroque
Art Forum, December issue – review of The Nameless
Don’t Panic – profile and discussion of The Nameless and Sikandar
Kunstforum, February issue – cover and interview
Art World, April/May issue – How Do You Want Me? feature
The Evening Standard – Kingdom of the Blind review
Art News, October issue – profile
Sculpture Journal, volume 15.2 – Natives and Colonials feature and interview
Art Papers, March/April issue – House of Cards review
Contemporary, issue 73 – profile
Los Angeles Times p E19, 11/6/04, House of Cards review
Art Forum On-line Critic’s Choice – House of Cards review
Art Forum Online Critic’s Picks – The Cardboard Palace review
Art Monthly, June issue – The Cardboard Palace review
Contemporary, June July August issue – The Cardboard Palace review
Frieze, issue 70 – The Cardboard Palace review