Hew Locke

Available to celebrate Hew Locke’s 2022-3 Duveen Hall Commission, Company of the Imperial Railway of Ethiopia 1, 2012, is part of Locke’s Share series of paintings. Beginning in 2009, Locke uses acrylic paint on found share certificates, reworking them to obscure or highlight elements of the documents. Expired share certificates are highly collectible due to their elaborate designs, remaining valuable even after the shares are cashed. As well as emphasising elements that the companies issuing the certificates may conceal, Locke is also making a statement about the commodification of contemporary art.

• Artist Hew Locke
• Artwork Company of the Imperial Railway of Ethiopia 1
• Exhibition Duveen Hall Comission 2022-23
• Material FSC Certified paper and wood
• Date of work 2012
• Credit Originial: Acrylic on found share certificate42.5 x 64.5 cm© Hew Locke. All rights reserved, DACS 2022

Hew Locke (b. 1959) is an Edinburgh-born sculptor and contemporary visual artist based in Brixton, London. The son of artists Leila Locke and Donald Locke, he lived in Georgetown, Guyana from 1966 to 1980, and studied Fine art at Falmouth University and Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. Winning both a Paul Hamlyn Award and an East International Award in 2000, Locke’s artwork explores the languages of colonial and post-colonial power, how different cultures fashion their identities through visual symbols of authority, and how these representations are altered by the passage of time. His work is held in many collections across the UK and US, including the Tate collection, and he is the Duveen Hall commission artist at Tate Britain for 2022.

• Product Code S22299