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David Lock

@mrdavidlock

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Artist, painter and site-specific collage
Currently showing in ‘Duncan Grant: Worlds Through Desire’ at Firstsite.
Website and available works👇

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David Lock’s paintings question how masculinity is constructed—treating it not as fixed, but as fluid, fragile, and culturally performed.

Using a collagist approach, Lock assembles imagery from magazines and mainstream media, then translates these compositions into paintings that deconstruct idealised representations of men. 
There’s vulnerability in his process. By breaking down these ideals, Lock reveals the uncertainty beneath—the gap between cultural expectations and lived experience. 
As artist Steve Cox observes: “Lock suggests that [male identity] is a fragile edifice constructed on the shifting sands of unreliable cultural constraints.” 
In exposing this instability, Lock’s work asks not just what masculinity is, but whether it can—or should—be defined at all.

Discover David Lock’s work on Gertrude.

See David’s work now in the ‘Gender Stories’ exhibition at @brighton_museums and when it tours to @walkerartgallery.

#ContemporaryPainting #MasculinityInArt #CollageProcess #EmergingArtists #ContemporaryArtUK by @mrdavidlock

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8 months ago

The show has been open for a few weeks but I finally got down to @firstsitecolchester last week to see ‘Duncan Grant: Worlds Through Desire’.

The curation across three generations of queer space and identity is brilliant, my work looked dynamic positioned upon the Pokémon card wall.

It’s a privilege to be exhibiting alongside a fantastic lineup of contemporary artists reflecting on Duncan Grant’s legacy, including @anteros.artist @haymangregory @jonathanlyndonchase @jamesmcdermott1993 @jeanclaracq and Matthew Ansell, and anonymous artists from across East Anglia.

The exhibition is open daily and runs until Sunday 08th November 2026.

#duncangrant #worldsthroughdesire #firstsite #jonathanlyndonchase #anterosartist by @mrdavidlock

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a month ago

David Lock paints from images already circulating in contemporary culture, appropriated from magazines and the internet, chosen for what they reveal about desire and masculinity.

“It’s an intuitive thing, the image will just pop out at me... desire works like that.”

White Briefs, Work Shirt and Tie, 2024
Watercolour and pencil on paper. Featured in 10 Men Magazine, Spring/Summer 2024.

Works from this series are currently on show at Firstsite in Duncan Grant: worlds Through Desire, until 11th November.

Now on Gertrude, part of our Summer Edit. Link in bio.

#ContemporaryArt #ArtCollecting #EmergingArtists #SummerEdit #WorksOnPaper by @mrdavidlock

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2 months ago

‘Black Vest, Blue Shorts’ is one of several watercolours I’ve recently sold on my online store at david-lock.com/shop. They are unique works on paper. I have several from my ‘Other’ series currently in the exhibition Duncan Grant: Worlds Through Desire’ at Firstsite until 11th November. In these works I draw from a variety of sources to depict men who embody what José Esteban Muńoz called the ‘dominant imprint’-a culturally enforced blueprint of male desire and perfection.

In my online store, I also have a couple of watercolour #misfits available. #watercolour #workonpaperart #davidlock_art by @mrdavidlock

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2 months ago

‘Seated Guy (Warm Light)’, 2025, watercolour and pencil on paper is currently showing in ‘Duncan Grant: Worlds Through Desire’ at Firstsite, Colchester.

@firstsitecolchester EXHIBITION

Worlds Through Desire: From Drawing to Cruising to DMs.

The exhibition brings together artworks, stories and poetry from three generations of voices, exploring how LGBT+ people have sought desire, such as friendship, community and intimacy across changing times and technologies.

Presented as an immersive visual poem, the exhibition combines Duncan Grant’s work with selected contemporary artworks, newly commissioned poetry, stories of cruising and personal reflections from collectors of Duncan Grant’s work, artists, poets and anonymous people.

Worlds Through Desire acts as a second chapter to Voyager 2000: Worldbeing & Wonder.

Until Sun 8 Nov 2026 #firstsite #queerdesire by @mrdavidlock

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2 months ago

Delighted to be showing several new works on paper in ‘Worlds Through Desire’ opening tomorrow evening at Firstsite, Colchester. With thanks to @edvardoshadalow @sallysarahshaw and all at Firstsite. ‘Guy in Orange Rugby Strip’, 2026, watercolour and pencil on paper.

@firstsitecolchester NEW EXHIBITION

Worlds Through Desire

Launching Fri 10 Jul, 6pm @firstsitecolchester

From Drawing to Cruising to DMs.

🎨👀🍆📱

Inspired by the art of Duncan Grant and others, this thread of poetry introduces ‘Worlds Through Desire’.

Follow an adult’s search for a place in the art world, through learning, mentorship, friendship, and intimacy - moving between performing, longing, vulnerability, and wanting to be seen.

Told through fragments of 3 generational voices from East Anglia, the show moves between physical and digital spaces.

The exhibition reflects on creativity, masculinity, and cruising, and on the complex ways some gay, bi, queer, and questioning men share advice, seek intimacy, and sometimes encounter risk in shared spaces.

Chapter 2 of Voyager 2000: Worldbeing & Wonder (2025)

Until Sun 8 Nov 2026 taken in Firstsite Colchester by @mrdavidlock

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3 months ago

Kiss (Stadium), watercolour #watercolour #worldcup taken in Mexico by @mrdavidlock

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3 months ago

Delighted to have recently sold this ‘Bearded Guy’ watercolour through Gertrude @gertrude__art

Thank you for the continued support. 💗#gertrude #pridemonth by @mrdavidlock

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4 months ago

RIP David by @mrdavidlock

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4 months ago

Back of my studio wall. #wolfgangtillmans #chantaljoffe #elizabethpeyton #pontormo #seemylastpost taken in Mile End, London by @mrdavidlock

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4 months ago

My homage to ‘The Cock (Kiss)’ by Wolfgang Tillmans @wolfgang_tillmans oil on panel, 2026, 61 x 46 cm I just made for a special commission celebrating ‘artists on artists’ for Soho House (Little House, Mayfair).

When Kate @katebryan_art invited me to do the commission I knew instantly I wanted to make this as it’s such an iconic image of Queer desire. It’s been on the back of my studio door since I first saw it many, many years ago.
I love it, but I have mixed feelings about my memories of The Ghetto itself, where The Cock was; it certainly wasn’t the paragon of inclusivity it was portrayed to be. Back then, I always preferred Duckie, Horsemeat and Seb’s @sebpatane club nights downstairs in the Electric Showroom, at all these venues you’d often see Wolfgang being his usual absolutely charming self, so the artwork really evokes those memories of the early 2000’s for me.

The other artworks here are by @premsahib @curtisartist and @frances_glory_costelloe as well as a whole host of other artists such as Tim Braden, Tracey Emin and Chantal Joffe.

With thanks to Kate, and @jackdavidlazenby ❤️🙏❤️

#sohohouse #wolfgangtillmans #davidlock_art taken in Little House Mayfair by @mrdavidlock

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4 months ago

Season’s End, watercolour, by @mrdavidlock

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4 months ago