Sight Unseen

About

Eclectic Gallery is proud to announce Caio Locke’s solo show Sight Unseen, which will run from the 17th of May to the 4th of June 2022, with a private view opening on the 26th May. This show is a marvellous exploration of philosophical idealism and futuristic forms. Eclectic Gallery is proud to represent such talent as Locke whose immaculate technique has been celebrated at numerous group exhibitions and art fairs. The British Brazilian artist fuses a mythological past and a utopian future in an urban setting, as he invites his audience to contemplate unexpected, barely imaginable possibilities. Among the recurrent themes in his work are New York (a city that never sleeps), Icarus (the archetype of idealism), and high-tech space depicted in an almost divine form.

Shaped between his life in the UK and a strong connection to Brazil, Caio Locke interweaves interior and exterior worlds in the setting of his surreal cities. Architecture lends a structure in which he explores his personal preoccupations with philosophy, culture, history, and concepts of the future.

Through unique and meticulous handling of colour and pattern, Locke employs perspective anomalies, optical depth, and Escher-like paradoxes to achieve intricate compositions. In the words of seminal art critic Edward Lucie-Smith on Meridian Skylines show at Embassy of Brazil, London, "Every now and then a show comes along that knocks one’s preconceptions sideways" (Edward Lucie-Smith, Artlyst 28/10/2018). Locke’s distinctive layering owes its beginnings to etching, a discipline he learned in his formative years, when he was traveling between London and Rio. The results bespeak a combination of mathematical diligence and controlled abstraction. Reality is sieved through a dream-like filter that assimilates recognisable motifs into utopian projections akin to a hypnagogic state of consciousness, the sensation of transitioning between wakefulness and sleep.

From this parallel vantage point, he addresses themes of self-transcendence and Hegelian synthesis between inner and outer realities. Imperatively, Caio Locke’s paintings place the viewer upon a threshold between time, dream, and reality, both potential and actual, where man-made objects entwine with patterns and shapes resonant with the natural world.

Caio Locke’s artworks are collected and exhibited both in the UK as well as internationally. The artworks have been displayed at prestigious locations including the Royal Museum of Scotland, Christie's (London), Firstsite, Colchester, and Royal Hospital Chelsea. Notable solo shows have been held at the Embassy of Brazil (London), HKS Architects (Fitzrovia), Oaktree Tiger Gallery, Hoxton Gallery, Cobden Club, and Rook and Raven Gallery. In addition to the many galleries, the artist has been commissioned on major public art projects such as the Fabergé Egg Parade, London Elephant Parade, as well as the BFG Dream Jar collaboration with Steven Spielberg.