Caio Locke

 

From an advanced school background in dry-point and aquatint etching, Caio Locke moved predominantly to painting during Art Foundation. Initially, he focused on transferring his technical ability to working in oils and acrylics. Caio Locke's earlier work includes figurative oil paintings of landscapes, cityscapes and seascapes in Brazil, where he has longstanding family connections.

 

His recent work is fuelled by incursions into the imagination and towards the essence of, and behind, existence. He creates metaphysical cityscapes, merging the ancestral and mythical past with visions of future utopias. The paintings invite viewers to contemplate the suggested possibilities within the paintings to find an individual perception of synthesis between reality and dream. His pieces simultaneously disavow and confirm reality.

 

Much of Caio Locke's recent work was inspired by a trip to Cambodia in late 2006, the majestic beauty and haunting atmosphere of the temples and colonial architecture prompting large oil paintings and graphic work. He incorporates experiences from travel into his work, which ranges from the vast and panoramic, to ethereal dimensional collisions within crowded interior spaces.

 

Time, light, energy, atmosphere, and human existence within this matrix, are themes that connect the paintings. The frequent use of architectural perspective allows for a compositional depth in which these elements can interact, whilst balance is retained in the compositions as a whole and within their constituent sections. Together, the paintings form an evolving journal of consciousness.

 

Caio Locke has studied fine art (painting/printmaking), history (First Class) and law. He applies his intellectual grounding to his work, which also contains historical visual references and strong symbolic motifs. He works principally from his studio in West London although he has exhibited in both West and East London, particularly in the Shoreditch area.

 

Caio Locke has recently been involved in the 2010 Elephant Parade London project. Elephant Parade is a conservation campaign that shines a multi-coloured spotlight on the urgent crisis faced by the endangered Asian elephant. Brought to you by www.elephantfamily.org, the event saw over 250 brightly painted life-size elephants located over central London, summer 2010, with Caio Locke’s taking pride of place outside the Royal Exchange at Bank.  For more information and pictures of Caio's elephant please see news page - 2R ART - Elephant Parade 2010.

 

2010: Pebbledash Gallery (tbc)

2010: Gallery 32, Notting Hill (tbc)

2009: No ID Gallery, Whitechapel (December)

2008: Pure Evil Gallery, Shoreditch 2008

2007: FLUK Factory

2006: Open Studio

 

2003: JB Studios, Rio de Janeiro

2007: FLUK Factory

2008: Decima Gallery

2008: Pure Evil Gallery

2009: Printspace, Shoreditch

2009: Chancery Lane Gallery

2009: Pebbledash Gallery

2009: Landmark Art Centre