David Lock’s paintings 
utilise a collagist approach. In the process of creating his ‘Misfit’ paintings, he makes collages culled from advertisements and imagery from mainstream media. In their making, the collages and subsequent paintings have a performative quality in that they draw upon masculinities as a multifaceted, fluid and ever-changing process.
Lock is investigating how to create a multitude of subject positions, upon which signifiers are free to float, shifting identification from one fragment to another. His paintings resist a single reading or viewpoint, instead any reading of the portrait is unmoored, fluid and contingent. A sense of vulnerability is reinforced by the paintings being composed from collaged elements.
Lock’s motivations for the use of the male, exposes an underlying uncertainty about the male’s status in contemporary culture and the role he should fulfil within it.
David Lock lives and works in Belfast and London. He graduated from Goldsmiths, London with an MA in Fine Art in 2001, following a first class BA (Hons) in Fine Art from The University of Reading in 1999. Upon graduation he joined Candoco Dance Company as a dancer for several years, before returning to his fine art practice in 2005. He has exhibited his work both nationally and internationally.
Lock was a prizewinner in the ‘Creekside Open’ 2019, selected by Sacha Craddock at APT Gallery, London.
In 2018, Lock had a solo show ‘Fragmented Eros’ at studio 1.1, London where he presented a new body of work.
The same year, his painting ‘El Muniria’ was selected for the ‘John Moores Painting Prize’, after which the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool acquired the painting for its permanent collection. His work is in many collections including Soho House.
Commissions include designing a geometric stage set in ‘Set and Reset/Reset’ for Candoco’s 20th anniversary season in 2011, in association with Trisha Brown Dance Company. Revived in Candoco’s repertoire between 2016 and 2023.
Lock is a recipient of the prestigious Abbey award at the British School at Rome between October 2011-June 2012.
In 2021, he curated the exhibition ‘Burra and Friends’ at Rye Art Gallery which showcased the work of Edward Burra and his contemporaries, together with contemporary queer artists.
His most recent commission in 2022, was for the arts charity Hospital Rooms.
In March 2024, Lock presented existing work and new paintings in ‘David Lock: In-between Us’ at Firstsite, Colchester. His first solo public exhibition.
Exhibitions
David Lock b. 1970, Leicester, UK. Lives and works in Belfast and London
Education
MA Fine Art Goldsmiths, London
PG (Dip) Fine Art Goldsmiths, London
BA (Hons) Fine Art University of Reading, Reading
Art Foundation De-Montfort University, Leicester
Solo Exhibitions
2024 ‘David Lock: In-between Us’, Firstsite, Colchester
2018 ‘Fragmented Eros’, studio.1.1, London
2008 ‘John Jones Work on Paper Prize’, Zoo Art Fair, London
2007 ‘Misfits & Maladies’, FRED London/Leipzig
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026
‘Gender Stories’, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool and Brighton Museum and Art Gallery (forthcoming)
2024
‘Bad Boy’s’, curated by Charlie Dutton, British Embassy in Beijing, China
‘Doomscrolling Is My Side Hustle’, curated by Mark Fraser-Betts, Arbor Gallery, New York
‘Assembly’, Rye Creative Centre, Rye
2023
‘Summer Exhibition’, Royal Academy of Arts, London
2022
‘Hometown Sessions #1’, EDJI Gallery, Paris
‘Like there is hope and I can dream of another world’, Hospital Rooms, Hauser and Wirth, London
‘The Body We Are In’, curated by Hayley Lock, Confer-Karnac Art Space, London
‘Stand Close and Breath Me In’, curated by Enzo Marra, Elysium Gallery, Swansea
‘Paper After All’, Royal Cambrian Academy of Art, Conwy travelling to PAPER, Manchester
2021
‘A Generous Space’, Hastings Contemporary, Hastings
‘Hospital Rooms – Art & Psychiatric Intensive Care’, Cork Street Galleries, London
‘Darkness at Noon’, curated by Ruth Callard, APT Gallery, London
‘Burra and Friends’, curated by David Lock, Rye Art Gallery, East Sussex
‘Your Foot In My Face’, curated by Dan Howard-Birt, Kingsgate Project Space, London
‘Misfits Billboard Project’, curated by Duovision Arts, Liverpool
‘Stand Close and Breath Me In’, curated by Enzo Marra, Oceans Apart, Manchester travelled to Pineapple Black, Middlesborough
‘Bare Bones’, curated by Ian Thomas, AIRspace Projects, Sydney, Australia
2020
‘Miniatures and Masterstrokes’, Rye Art Gallery, East Sussex
‘Summer (Winter) Exhibition’, Royal Academy of Arts, London
‘John Lennon is Not Dead’, curated by Harry Pye, Stash Gallery at Vout O Reenees, London
‘EXH 02’, Floorr Magazine, online exhibition.
‘between parts undone – Paintings by David Lock, Gavin Maughfling, J.A Nicholls, studio1.1, London
2019
‘Creekside Open’, curated by Sacha Craddock, APT Gallery, London (Prizewinner)
‘Telescope’, curated by Nigel Cooke, Jerwood Gallery, Hastings
2018
‘Rules of Freedom’, curated by Rosalind Davis, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London
‘John Moores Painting Prize 2018’, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
‘Creative Rage’, curated by Duovision Arts, Stoke Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Staffordshire
‘The Performativity of Painting’, curated by Alex Roberts, Stephen Lawrence Gallery, Greenwich
2017
‘Crimes of Passion: Joe Orton’. The National Justice Museum, Nottingham
‘What the Artist Saw: New Art Inspired by the Life and Work of Joe Orton’, curated by Michael Petry and Dr Emma Parker, MOCA, London, and travelled to Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester
‘Adam Reynolds Bursary, Shortlist Exhibition’, Artlink, Hull
‘Painting: Experiment’, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
2016
‘The Discerning Eye’, invited by Dan Coombs, and Sacha Craddock, Mall Galleries, London
‘30 x 30 x 32’, Contemporary British Painting show, St Marylebone Crypt, London
2015
‘Art of the Lived Experiment’, Curated by Amanda Cachia and Aaron Williamson, Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM), Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (UICA), and Kendall College of Art and Design (KCAD), Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
2014
‘DadaFest: Art of the Lived Experiment’, curated by Aaron Williamson, The Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool
‘Threadneedle Prize’, guest curated by Sacha Craddock, Mall Galleries, London
‘Arcus Pride Exhibition’, curated by Michael Petry, Clifford Chance, London
2013
‘Together’, curated by Enzo Marra, Occupy My Time Gallery, London
‘Masquerade – Be Another’, curated by Eléonore Gros and Alicia Paz, Stephen Lawrence Gallery, London
‘Unknown Sitter’, curated by Covadonga Valdes, Lion & Lamb Gallery, London
‘A House of Many Windows’, curated by Gluckman & Day, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London
‘Six Degrees Of Separation’,curated by Juan Bolivar, Wimbledon Space, London
2012
‘Ex Roma III’, APT Gallery, London
‘I Don’t Know How A Rock Feels’, The British School at Rome, Italy
2011
‘Seven Things to Do In An Emergency’, The British School at Rome, Italy
2010
‘Misfits’, DS Contemporary, Belgium
Catalogues and Publications
John Moores Painting Prize 2018, The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 2018
Art of the Lived Experiment, The Bluecoat, Liverpool, 2014
The Threadneedle Prize, The Mall Galleries, 2014
Fine Arts 2011-12, The British School at Rome, 2012
Metropolis Rise, New Art from London, Shanghai, Beijing, 2006
Awards, Commissions and Talks
2022 ‘Hospital Rooms’ commission, Bevan Ward NHS Foundation Trust, London
‘Denton’s Art Prize 10’ shortlist, London
2021 ‘Burra and Friends’, in conversation with Diarmuid Hester and Louise Simkiss-Day, Rye Art
Gallery
2019 ‘Creekside Open’, APT Gallery, London (Prizewinner)
‘Strange Perfume’, Talk and readings at the LGBTQ+ book fair, South London Gallery
2018 ‘Queer Perspectives‘ in conversation with Sadie Lee, National Portrait Gallery, London
2011 ‘Abbey Scholarship in Painting’, The British School at Rome
Set designer for ‘Set and Reset/Reset’ by CandoCo Dance Company. In association with Trisha
Brown Dance Company (based on the original by Robert Rauschenberg)
2006 ‘John Jones Work on Paper Prize’, Zoo Art Fair, London