Sam Lock paints viscerally. Using blowtorches and sanders as well as the brush, he sees each canvas as a battlefield. Sanded, stained, scorched and sealed, each work is the result of a continuous cycle of making - a repeated process of building up and destruction. The works have an elusive feeling, revealing layers of past images and tones that drop in and out of themselves. This sense of painterly archaeology brings attention to the movement of the mind and the residue of action, and the pervading sense of unpredictability. The physicality of Lock’s process is evident throughout his paintings. His expansive gestures and sweeping movements on a monumental scale as well as his smaller works, where marks made by the movement of the wrist are added to paper, translate into an energetic artistic presence visible throughout his works.
‘Lock has talked of his aim to ‘submit himself to the canvas’, eliminating extraneous thought in order to guarantee a purity of response in which concentration and intuition, thought and action, go hand in hand’
Ian Massey
Lock’s preoccupation with ‘the presence of absence’ is evident throughout his works. Inspired by the works of Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, the equivalence of the spoken word and protracted silence influence Lock’s practice. His painterly language of abstract marks and signs contribute to an exploration of the ways silence and interval might be iterated visually. The concept of time has been one of Lock’s primary themes in painting - time to create; history and memory and traces of other times and places. This ‘poetry of yesterday’ is sensed in all of his paintings. They are not paintings that reveal themselves at a glimpse. They require the viewer to find a new pace, to take the time to discern and contemplate the deeper resonances of the works. Acting as an interface between the conscious and the subconscious, the paintings’ surfaces create a connection between inner and outer worlds. According to Lock, ‘the best paintings nurture you from looking, into feeling,’ creating an experience that evolves from an artwork.
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One (Riverbed), 2023mixed media on canvas150cm x 130cm (59" x 51")
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Swathe (one) , 2023mixed media on canvas130cm x 150cm (51" x 41")
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Swathe (Two), 2023mixed media on canvas130cm x 150cm (51" x 41")
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Three (Riverbed), 2023mixed media on canvas150cm x 130cm (59" x 51")
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Two (Riverbed), 2023mixed media on canvas150cm x 130cm (59" x 51")
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4 Sides, 2022mixed media on paper35.5cm x 27cm (14" x 11")
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4 Sides (1), 2022mixed media on paper35.5cm x 27cm (14" x 11")
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4 Sides (10), 2022mixed media on paper35.5cm x 27cm (14" x 11")
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4 Sides (11), 2022mixed media on paper35.5cm x 27cm (14" x 11")
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4 Sides (12), 2022mixed media on paper35.5cm x 27cm (14" x 11")
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4 Sides (2), 2022mixed media on paper35.5cm x 27cm (14" x 11")
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4 Sides (3), 2022mixed media on paper35.5cm x 27cm (14" x 11")
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Sam Lock
Carta 2 - 31 Mar 2023 Milan -
Sam Lock
Not the time of clocks 11 Oct - 11 Nov 2022 London -
Sam Lock
The Fragment and the Infinite 21 Oct - 5 Nov 2021 MilanCadogan Contemporary are delighted to announce a new solo exhibition of works by British artist Sam Lock. Co-curated by Maria Abramenko and Freddie Burness The Fragment and the Infinite’ is...Read more -
Sam Lock
Tempo - Cadogan Hampshire 30 Mar - 17 Apr 2021 HampshireTempo is a new exhibition from Sam Lock. This comprises of a site specific installation of thirty-three canvases in our new exhibition space in rural Hampshire, near Winchester. In conjunction...Read more -
Sam Lock
Tempo - Cadogan London 30 Mar - 17 Apr 2021 LondonTempo is a new exhibition from Sam Lock. This comprises of a site specific installation of thirty-three canvases in our new exhibition space in rural Hampshire, and an exhibition of...Read more -
Now/Here
Sam Lock 9 - 27 Sep 2019 LondonCadogan Contemporary is delighted to present Now/here, a solo exhibition featuring new work by the acclaimed British artist Sam Lock. A key inspiration for Lock is the written word, in...Read more
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Not the Time of Clocks
Sam Lock | Exhibition Catalogue 2022CatalogueRead more -
Temporary
Sam Lock | Book 2021BookRead more
Publisher: Cadogan Books -
Tempo
Sam Lock | Exhibition Catalogue 2021CatalogueRead more -
Now/Here
Sam Lock Exhibition Catalogue 2019CatalogueRead more
Publisher: Cadogan Books -
Time - Space - Existence
Sam Lock | Exhibition Catalogue 2018CatalogueRead more
Lock’s interest in the relationship between history and archaeology, incorporated into and underpinning his painting practice, was developed during his time in Rome as a scholarship student. Sam Lock trained at Edinburgh University and College of Art, graduating with an MA in Fine Art Painting and an MA in History of Art in 1997. He has exhibited regularly with Cadogan since 2015 in both our London and Hampshire spaces and has shown at various galleries and fairs in Europe and Asia.
EDUCATION
1997 |
MA (Hons) Degree in Fine Arts and History of Art, University of Edinburgh |
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 |
'Carta', Cadogan Gallery, Milan |
2022 |
'Not the time of clocks', Cadogan Gallery, London |
2021 |
‘The Fragment and the Infinite’, Cadogan Gallery, Scala Lambrate, Milan |
'Tempo', Cadogan Gallery, London and Hampshire |
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2020 |
'Presence of Absence', Lemon Street Gallery, Cornwall, UK |
2019 |
'In Situ', &Gallery, Edinburgh, UK |
2018 |
'Unremembered', Twelve Twelve Gallery, The Hague, The Netherlands |
2013 |
'Trace Element' Solo Show, Studio 226 Chelsea Design Centre |
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND FAIRS
2018 |
'Juxtaposition', Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne, Germany |
2015 |
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London |
2008/09 |
Affordable Art Fair, London |
2003 |
O2, London |
1997 |
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh |
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SAM LOCK & CADOGAN MILAN | INSIDEART ITALY | ARTICLE & INTERVIEW
Gaia Badioni, InsideArt Italy, March 23, 2023 -
SAM LOCK | ARTRIBUNE ITALY | ARTICLE
Mark Saporiti, Artribune Italy, March 21, 2023 -
Launch Party | Cadogan Milan
March 3, 2023 -
SAM LOCK | CORRIERE DELLA SERA ITALY | FEATURE
Rosella Ghezzi, Corriere della Sera, March 2, 2023 -
SAM LOCK | ARTRIBUNE ITALY | FEATURE
Artribune, March 2, 2023 -
SAM LOCK | ARTNET NEWS | ARTICLE
Annikka Olsen, Artnet News, March 1, 2023 -
SAM LOCK | ART AROUND ITALY | FEATURE
Art Around, February 27, 2023 -
CADOGAN GALLERY | WORLD ARCHITECTURE NEWS | MENTION
Séan Thurgood, World Architecture News, August 29, 2022 -
SAM LOCK | THE LONDON MAGAZINE
Eric Block, The London Magazine, September 6, 2019 -
SAM LOCK | THE ARGUS
Samuel Brooke, The Argus, September 1, 2019 -
SAM LOCK | LUXLIFE MAGAZINE
LUXLife Magazine , August 9, 2019 -
SAM LOCK | TREBUCHET MAGAZINE
Naila Scargill , Trebuchet Magazine, August 6, 2019 -
SAM LOCK | MEDIUM
Annie Carpenter, Medium, August 6, 2019 -
SAM LOCK | WALL STREET INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE
Wall Street International Magazine , July 31, 2019