Maintaining curiosity with Damon Locks
Damon Locks is a Chicago based visual artist, musician and educator.
Golden Egg: Do you think about getting older, and what you'd like your life to look like?
Damon Locks: I do think about it often as I turn 56 this year! I am always thinking about what I want my life to look like, especially since Tara and I are a committed partnership. We kind of have to talk about it to create alignment. Previous to that I was able to kind of wing it. These days I am just trying to parlay all the work I am doing to build bigger platforms for myself to maintain my curiosity/work. Not meaning build better platforms as in “leveling up” to more mainstream avenues but more building the community and resources to make new work happen.
GE: Do you want to retire, or keep playing music for your whole life, or some combination of both?
DL: I don’t really plan to retire. I wanna keep doing what makes sense. There are three aspects to my practice: visual art, sound/music making, and teaching. I would like to continue all of these things and follow whatever path calls me.
GE: Have you planned (financially or otherwise) for retirement or aging?
DL: I have not. It’s not really something I learned about. I will be applying for this Golden Egg opportunity.
GE: Is/are there musician(s) who's lifestyle you'd like to emulate as you age (these artists can be younger, older, or the same age as you)
DL: Hmm? Lifestyle…I am not sure I think in terms of lifestyle. There are artists I admire for how their work operates/operated. There are collectives that had ideas that inspired. Emory Douglas who made art for the Black Panthers made work that directly impacted the Black community helping to convey information and encourage political movement. Chicago’s AfriCobra artist collective had an ethos and ideology to make work intentionally for Black community and keep it at a price point so folks could afford it. But how people live, their lifestyle, I am not sure their is anyone I want to emulate. Don Cherry and Moki Cherry were artists that were interested in blending the home space with making/creative space. That is a beautiful idea but everyone would have to design that for their specific lives. I think that is as close to a lifestyle idea that I could think of incorporating ideas into my life.
GE: Who are some of your favorite artists over 65, or a favorite album of theirs?
DL: Duke Ellington - Afro Eurasian Eclipse & Far East Suite (he was around 66-68 during that time)
Sun Ra - hard to say an album that was a favorite let alone a favorite when he was over 65. His records are so timeless and his releases feel nonlinear when it comes to time. Something might be reissued so it seems new (to you) but it came out 20 years earlier. So I will just pick the third Sun Ra album I purchased called Out There A Minute. It has a marvelous version of Love In Outer Space on it.
