"Cut Bait"

Gaston Locklear grew up in South Carolina. Growing up at the beach, the ocean dominated his life and his work, and most of his paintings pertain to the sea in some shape or form. Gaston received a B.A. in graphic design with a minor in fine art from the University of South Carolina. Over time, his paintings have evolved from realism to contemporary and currently border on the abstract.

I've always been drawn to weathered, organic surfaces. I get my inspiration from driftwood to old road signs to barnacles growing on a boat bottom. I grew up at the beach and saw first hand the effect the sun and salt had on everything and took some joy watching things 'fall apart' over time, exposing the rawness and 'guts' of objects. In my work I explore the way materials(wood, metal, paper) break down from exposure to the sun, salt, and water and the colors and textures that are created in that process. These organic shapes and colors tell a story, the same way scars, wrinkles, and other blemishes reveal a persons' life experiences.