Name/Title
Night VisionEntry/Object ID
2023.2.5Description
This large assemblage by Ronald Lockett is a highly textured, richly layered tin construction. It has a unique three-dimensional quality and a freeform border. The background is split vertically down the center into a red right column, reminiscent of barn doors, and a shadowy black and brown left column. These vertical columns are unified by an animal silhouette positioned in the center of the work. The animal, perhaps a calf or sheep, is composed of several loosely secured vertical strips of tin. A white shape in the foreground may be another resting animal, and a tree-like cutout is nearly hidden in the background on the left. Lockett was a cousin of the highly regarded Vernacular artist Thornton Dial, Sr. He called Dial “Uncle Buck’' and considered him a mentor.Artwork Details
Medium
cut out tin on woodAcquisition
Accession
2023.2Source or Donor
Lou and Calynne HillAcquisition Method
GiftMade/Created
Artist Information
Artist
Lockett, RonaldRole
ArtistDate made
1997Interpretative Labels
Label
Ronald Lockett (1965-1998) was a cousin of the highly regarded Vernacular artist Thornton Dial, Sr. – “Uncle Buck” to Lockett – whom he considered his primary artistic mentor. Lockett said he knew he wanted to be an artist since the 4th grade and worked as a full-time artist after graduating high school. As a smaller man, Lockett was an outsider in his community, socially and economically ostracized from his peers because he couldn't perform the arduous manual labor required to participate in the local mining industry. Despite this, he prevailed as a leading Vernacular artist, reconfiguring traditional African American beliefs with stylistic influences from the Western painting tradition. Lockett used found materials like wire, sticks, and tin to construct images he said expressed what he saw as "wrong with society.” The artist died at age 33 of complications from the AIDS virus.Created By
ashley.williams@gadsdenarts.orgCreate Date
March 21, 2024