THE ARTISTIC JOURNEY OF WILL LOCKYEAR

For the last article of January, I am delighted to welcome the first of 2025's guest writers, multi-disciplinary artist Will Lockyear. Like me, Will is a musician as well as a visual artist, so I was especially pleased when he agreed to contribute a piece – one which I find very absorbing indeed.

So, over to Will!...

When Haydn asked me to write a piece about my journey as an artist, it struck me how little effort I’ve made over the years to weave my chaotic exploration into something resembling a coherent narrative. And so I write this for myself as much as for the person who finds themselves reading it. If you’re curious about the journey that led me to embracing the title of “multi-disciplinary artist”, and some of the insights into the threads that tie all mediums of expression together, I encourage you to grab a mug of something warm and read on.

WILL LOCKYEAR in the studio

I suppose it begins with a Nokia 3210. My dad’s, actually, in the tardis of a cottage he moved to after the divorce. A higgledy-piggledy thing with sloping roofs and a flock of bats that bobbed above the surrounding woodland canopy at sunset. The phone contained a rudimentary music-writing app, with monophonic tones assigned to alphanumeric codes denoting pitch and duration. It was a laborious process, to say the least, but one I found deeply enjoyable. For endless hours I’d weave sonic masterpieces (to my nine-year-old ears, at least), painstakingly coding the exact length of each note and pause. Within such tight parameters, I saw endless potential.

Over the years, I’ve discovered many of these creative outlets. Some, like stop-motion animation and architecture (which I studied at University Of Manchester), exist for me as a distant memory, while others, like cooking and writing, have ebbed and flowed through the years. Photography provided me with a stable income, though perhaps at the cost of my artistic relationship to the medium. It was electronic music, though, that really grabbed me by the horns and led me down the artist’s path.

WILL LOCKYEAR - music promo shot

My twenties were spent, alongside a fair bit of partying, attempting the practically impossible task of becoming an electronic artist with a unique sonic fingerprint. The real genius of the greats (Call Super, Theo Parrish, Objekt, Octo-Octa, Floating Points, to name a few) lies in the combination of incredible artistry, however we define that, with the technical engineering skills to bring their visions to life. Most people can only pull off one of those, but I’ve always been fixated on both. I’m proud of the music I’ve made so far and that journey is far from over for me but I bring it up because of the lessons it taught me along the way.

I consider electronic music the first art form I “mastered,” though I use the term very loosely.

Meditation became a big part of my life in my early twenties and was a cornerstone of the insights that led me to mastering the elusive art of electronic production. I realised the most beautiful music came when I relinquished any sense of control. Inner stillness became the doorway to the next correct move when carrying out audio engineering tasks. I discovered a well of nothingness that one can clamber deep inside of, and the ideas that spring from that place are infused with a kind of brilliance normally just out of reach.

Over time, I began to see parallels between the mediums I worked in. Whether I was finding the perfect balance of flavour in cooking, throwing porcelain at my mum’s studio, or even attempting to tear up a dancefloor, the same principles that helped me master music applied across the board. Everything boiled down to inner stillness, reliable access to flow-state and an ability to let go of control – to surrender to chaos whilst observing from a seat of awareness.

There was something else, too. I’d developed a finer sense of some kind of divine balance, a resonance that either felt “right” or didn’t. I try to let this innate feeling be the driving force behind my actions when making art.

I also found a bloom of unlimited, saturating ecstasy hidden in the deepest, most quiet corner of the mind. I’m still not sure quite how that influences my art, but knowing it exists certainly changes one’s relationship with the world. I began to see beauty wrapped up inside of the most mundane things. The way light would catch the edge of my dinner plate, the tapestry of texture in a pile of rubbish. Beauty is everywhere, if only we can learn how to look for it.

A strong desire to express these discoveries grew in me, which led to a thought – where else might this be applicable? What do I really want to do with art? 

On our first wedding anniversary, I brought my wife a blank canvas (paper) and told her I’d paint her anything. She asked for oranges. I studied art to A level and painting had been a source of joy in my school years but my first work as an adult, Oranges for Kat, was completed in 2020 at the age of 29 after over a decade hiatus.

ORANGES FOR KAT - Will Lockyear (2020)

When applying these broad insights to a new art form, they don't replace the need for technical education. Though I believe certain threads run through the mastery of any medium, each presents its own unique blend of technical knowledge, physical skill, and muscle memory. It took a full year of experimentation before I felt ready to fully embark on this painting. I had a clear vision in my mind – a piece both impressionistic and dominated by expressive brushstrokes, yet hyper-real. I wanted every inch of the painting to be something the viewer could get lost inside of, just as I had learned to do with my own reality.

I worked on Oranges for Kat over several months. Along the way, I became fascinated with the brushstroke itself. I realised that everything I was trying to express with my polymathic approach to the arts was contained within each moment the brush touched the canvas. A brushstroke is a moment frozen in time. A dance, captured. I discovered that the beauty of a brushstroke correlated directly with the depth of stillness present during the act – how fully I could surrender attachment to the action itself. From this moment on, my work would be defined by unblended brushstrokes. The subject became a framework on which to layer a thousand moments of transcendence.

To open the door to chaos is a scary thing, particularly when there is no undo button. Every brushstroke guides the work toward completion but also carries the power to ruin everything if the reins are let go completely. I play on the easel, mixing colours brings me pure joy, but the act of painting itself is an intensely spiritual act. One I find quite exhausting.

EAT THE FRUIT - Will Lockyear (2021)

My second painting, Eat the Fruit, was a painting of a memory. I’d been eating fruit by the window of my kitchen when the moment struck me – vivid and profound in its quiet beauty. Months later, when I finally decided to paint the scene, I could no longer remember what fruit I’d been eating, only the impact the moment had left on me. So I chose to paint something out of the ordinary.

The mysterious fruit became a symbol, deeply woven into a story germinating in my mind at the time (I’m still writing the novel). I love this painting very much and used it as the cover art for my debut album, Aom – Eat the Fruit.

FRACTAL BEAUTY OF THE MUNDANE - Will Lockyear (2023)

It would be two full years before I returned to oils. Fractal Beauty of the Mundane, completed in 2023, was another painting of a memory. I became obsessed with the particular moment represented in this painting, one I’d experienced a thousand times before. It seemed to represent a shared doorway into the kind of hidden beauty I’d been trying to communicate for years.

I’ll refrain from spelling out the subject matter because I’ve found this piece lends itself to multiple interpretations. It felt like I had finally said everything I was trying to say with that painting. I may return to the style one day, but upon completing it, I vowed that my next work would explore new ground.

IMAGINED SUNSET 001 2024 - Will Lockyear (2024)

On Friday, October 13th, 2023, I broke my neck diving into the sea in Peru. I narrowly escaped neck-down paralysis, an experience that shook me to my core.

After surgery, I spent a slow winter recovering at my mum’s home in the Berkshire countryside. It was during this time of quiet reflection that I doubled down on my commitment to my journey as an artist. I also reconnected with nature in a way I hadn’t since my youth. The long, drawn-out December sunsets left a profound impression on me, and I decided my next painting would respond to those skies I had witnessed during my recovery.

It was around this time that I solidified my theory regarding brushstrokes. I became fascinated by the idea of developing the perfect framework on which to explore colour theory and brushwork. It was this thought experiment that led me to a deconstruction of the technical principles of painting landscapes, particularly the way colours bleach towards the horizon. This painting is not of any particular sky, it is an abstract exploration of colour within clearly defined parameters. I intend to continue the series in the future. 

BLOOM - Will Lockyear (2024

Whilst this painting appears to be moving in the direction of pure abstraction, the exploration of colour and mark making was still built upon a loose idea of form. There is a painting underneath, midnight blue upon a vivid orange backdrop, loosely resembling the very center of a flower in full bloom. There is another sort of bloom, one that unfurls at the very back of the mind and overwhelms you.

My current project, a series of 6 paintings, explores the realms of pure abstraction. Without subject or form to guide the brushwork, I have found myself led more fully by intuition. Each painting begins as a series of marks and every subsequent layer responds to the last, always in search of something I cannot express with language. I ride the knife edge of control and chaos. Just as with electronic music, the wisdom is in knowing when they are finished. 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/will.lockyear/

THE ARTISTIC JOURNEY OF WILL LOCKYEAR (Paragraph 3 onwards) Copyright Will Lockyear 2025

Paragraphs 1 and 2 Copyright Haydn Dickenson 2025