Alison Jacques marks her exclusive representation
Melanie Gerlis, Financial Times
October 2024
Financial Times, Alison Jacques
Alison Jacques marks her exclusive representation of the estate of the Guyanese painter, sculptor and ceramicist Donald Locke with a solo booth at Frieze Masters next week (Regent’s Park, October 9-13). Locke, whose other claim to fame is that his son is the celebrated artist Hew Locke, was very much an artist in his own right, with one of his Plantation Series sculptures among Tate Britain’s permanent display. Jacques’s representation comes ahead of the artist’s UK touring show next year, at Spike Island, Bristol then Camden Arts Centre, London and Ikon Gallery in Birmingham.
Locke grew up when Guyana was still a British colony and Jacques’s booth will include work from Plantation, which explores systems of labour. She also brings Locke’s ceramics—“one of his passions”, which he studied at the UK’s Bath Academy of Art — as well as paintings and collages from the 1990s (booth price range $18,000-$75,000). Jacques describes Locke as “an important figure who explored themes of heritage and post-colonial identity, a precursor to the work of many artists today”.