Guyanese Cast Off Colonial Shadow: Locke on Display at Newark’s Aljira
Dan Bischoff, The Sunday Star–Legder
April 2004
If there were a prize for the most stirring post-colonial art, Donald Locke might be the winner. Here is a mind and hand educated at British imperial expense, who takes the native shapes of his home country’s ancient art and create a new pride of place for people attempting to make their own destiny. And he didn’t just do it once, he’s done it through his entire career.
‘Bending the Grid: Modernity, Identity and the Vernacular in the Work of Donald Locke’ is the third major show in the new exhibition space of Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art in Newark, and another in the gallery’s series of shows recognising significant, under-represented living artists.