Ghost

Artist Hew Donald Joseph Locke (Guyanese-British, born 1959)

CultureBritish

Date2015

MediumWood, tin panels, chain, plastic flowers, spray paint, varnish, resin, superglue, enamel paint, and brass wire

Dimensions31 1/2 × 63 × 8 5/8 in. (80 × 160 × 21.9 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number2020.10

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 223

DescriptionA gray, striped, painted wooden ship with small chains attached to the sides with plastic beads and flowers. Ghost specifically refers to the British WWII King George V class battleships, which were the most modern ships of their day and saw a great deal of action. They often acted as convoys for other ships in the North Atlantic Ocean where it was very cold. In this is version Locke has painted the boat in triangular stripes, somewhat mimicking the camouflage used on WWII ships, but also as a way to suggest the cold surrounding them. He has also added small skulls, beads, and flowers as if the ship has become a “ghost ship,” a recognition to all of the destruction it, and others like it, caused.

ProvenancePurchased by Chrysler Museum of Art from P.P.O.W., New York, June 2020.Exhibition HistorySolo exhibition, Imperial War Museum, London, 2015. Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, New York, 2016.