PAINTER. WEST SUSSEX. UNITED KINGDOM
FOR HIM, THE ACT OF PAINTING IS, IN REALITY, A PROCESS OF EXCAVATION. HIS WORK MOVES AWAY FROM SPONTANEITY TO DELVE INTO THE TENSION OF STRATIFICATION, WHERE WHAT IS CONCEALED CARRIES AS MUCH WEIGHT AS WHAT IS REVEALED. FAR FROM A PULSATING VIBRANCY, HIS WORK IS AN EXERCISE IN STRUCTURED SILENCE AND ACCUMULATED TIME, WHERE EVERY MARK IS A VESTIGE OF A STRUGGLE BETWEEN MEMORY AND OBLIVION. STARRING @SAM_LOCK_ART WWW.SAMLOCK.COM
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEAN- LUC BRODUARD
“How would you describe the core or central idea of your artistic work?”
“Time is, time was, but time shall be no more.” James Joyce.
I am intrigued and drawn to the futility of ourselves and also paradoxically the importance we place in ourselves – the centreground we inhabit and the control we pretend to have. I think there is more comfort and reward in being aware of the insignificance – that we are not supposed to be in control of things, that time will always pass. We try and understand the world by breaking it up into manageable pieces, give it edges and impose systems upon it. I think a painting exists here for me like a battleground for ideas – physically it has edges and contains marks and decisions but it also acts as a fragment of an infinite
“What is the most vulnerable or personal part of yourself that you expose through your art?“
Human frailty is in all of us for the same reasons – our “not-knowing” is what makes companions of us all – our relationship with time and the treasure of our moments. We live in memory – a liminal space between now and then – a metaphysical existence…..it’s just that our everyday is built to distract us from this. There is a real struggle to reconcile the inner world of memory and imagination with the exterior reality that we encounter.
“Where do you get your inspiration from?”
I don’t wait for moments of inspiration – for me it is more that my practice has a current that I am carried along by. The studio has a perpetual motion to it and a framework of ideas that are designed to make things happen and always starting journeys. I try to act on ideas as they occur, even if they appear to be cul-de sacs – it feels to me to be always ongoing and never finished. I feel that if I act belligerently and make things awkward enough, then there are always signposts for me to follow.
“Do you have any quirks or habits in your studio?”
My aim is always to not know – I prefer the tone of uncertainty – it’s like an underlying principle for me. Part of what I do is based around the Death of the Author – to avoid the construction of ego by involving change and chance, to seek opportunities where someone or something else has influenced the work; I intentionally avoid developing processes by contradicting or sabotaging things; my work is not held together by a visual style – I can’t think of anything worse! I am trying to find a kinetic and elusive language – ideally I find paintings rather than make them.
“Is there a particular time of day when your creativity or energy to create is at its peak”
I am always working… there always seems to be something to do.
“What resources, experiences, or places usually act as a trigger for your creativity?”
There is a melancholy that triggers, a poena damni – the pain of loss….. The presence of absence has a way of involving or including – an inherent poignancy which is just about the right place to be for me.
“Do you prefer working with a particular material or technique? What draws you to them?”
I describe my works as mixed media – but a more accurate description would be battlegrounds. I intentionally try to create tensions between materials so they fight and interact in ways I can’t predict. I avoid technique at all costs – to me that is a shortcut to repetition, boredom and the conversion of art into product design.
“Favorite living artist?”
Anselm Kiefer – an artist without limitations.
Piece with Artist Magazine. february 2026. © www.piecewithartist.com
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