1 OCTOBER 2025 – 22 FEBRUARY 2026
IKON GALLERY, BRINDLEYPLACE, B1 2HS
OPEN TUESDAY-SUNDAY, 11AM-5PM
FREE ENTRY, DONATIONS WELCOME
Ikon presents the first major survey exhibition of Guyanese-British artist Donald Locke (1930– 2010). Locke was born and raised in Guyana and first moved to the UK in the 1950s to study at Bath Academy of Art and Edinburgh School of Art. He then lived between London and Georgetown for the next twenty years, before settling in the United States in the late 1970s.
The exhibition at Ikon Gallery explores the development of his work across Guyana, the UK and the United States over five decades, from the late 1960s to the early 2000s. It features over eighty works, from early ceramics that evoke human and natural forms to mixed-media sculptures and monochromatic black paintings from the 1970s. Also included are several large-scale paintings from the 1990s that incorporate found images along with ceramic, metal and wood elements. These materials reflect Locke’s evolving approach to the use of different media, his formal ingenuity and the growing influence of African American vernacular art and iconography, following his relocation to the United States.
Donald Locke: Resistant Forms is organised by Spike Island, Bristol; Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; and Camden Art Centre, London, with support from the Estate of Donald Locke. The exhibitions at Spike Island and Ikon Gallery are curated by Robert Leckie, Director of Gasworks, London (and former Director of Spike Island). The exhibition at Camden Art Centre is curated by Martin Clark and Gina Buenfeld-Murley, in collaboration with Robert Leckie. The exhibition is generously supported by The Ampersand Foundation, Henry Moore Foundation, Alison Jacques Gallery and the Estate of Donald Locke.