Scott Hocking | OLD at David Klein Gallery (Detroit)
Scott Hocking: Old will open at David Klein Gallery (1520 Washington Blvd, Detroit) on Saturday, May 12th. This will be Hocking's first solo exhibition at David Klein Gallery. Hocking's work has been featured in several national and international publications, such as The New York Times, Dérive, National Geographic, The Huffington Post, Time Magazine, and more. (Text below is from Hocking's biography and website, www.scotthocking.com)
While early in his career, the camera served to document his interventions in hard-to-reach places and as an excuse for trespassing, photography has become a critical component of Hocking’s practice. It has evolved to hold the same significance as the sculptures and installations, carries the same conceptual weight, and has been acquired by various institutions including the renowned Detroit Institute of Arts collection.
The TRIUMPH OF DEATH AND THE BREAKING WHEELS OF LIFE is a site specific installation and photo project in the Australian bush, created during a monthlong residential grant at the former home of artist Arthur Boyd, now called the Bundanon Trust. Based on the appearance of Breaking Wheels in the paintings of Pieter Breughel the Elder (Triumph of Death, Christ Carrying the Cross), Arthur Boyd's connection to Brueghel, the location of the site being known as Haunted Point ('but no one knows why...'), the Aboriginal history in the area and rumors of the nearby Ridge, the deadly Shoalhaven River currents and tides, the Buddhist Wheel of Life, my Quixotian quest curse, and a photograph of Sidney Nolan mounting a dead horse. ...along the amphitheatre trail, past the sign post, under the fallen Banksia, over the dead tree, right at the crossroads, past the termite mound, left at the lichen rock log, through the gum gates, past the snake tree, along the ridge, first at the cliff cairn, between the cave and the portal tree, 4 breaking wheels and the triumph of death. at the end of the paddock, near the old river fence, the dead horse stands. past snake mountain and the sacred stone circle, at end of the cedar trail, in the bush of haunted point, up the hill, the stone dolmen old man of the mountain wombat rock sits at the head of the ridge spine... http://scotthocking.com/triumph.html
THE CELESTIAL SHIP OF THE NORTH (EMERGENCY ARK), aka the Barnboat, is a site-specific installation and permanent sculpture in the farmlands of Michigan's Thumb. Based on ideas of ancient vessels, duality, alchemical symbolism, destruction myths, and deluge stories, and shaped by the site's history and incredibly consistent winds, the Barnboat was built over the course of 3 months, and made entirely from the beams and boards of a collapsing 1890s barn that stood in its place. Built on the Goretzki farmland, the Ship will continue to decay, just as the barn it was made from did. http://scotthocking.com/ark.html
BABEL is site-specific two-part installation that crosses the threshold between the exhibition and abandoned spaces of the Gare Saint Sauveur: a former railway station in the northern French city of Lille. The work is based on the mythical Tower of Babel stories, the Salon de Paris, themes of mysticism and transformation, and the history of the site itself. Materials were found throughout the Gare grounds and adjacent buildings, as well as the Braderie de Lille - the 800 year-old, largest street market in Europe - and combined with materials sent from Detroit. Using artifacts from Detroit and Lille, I attempted to transform the spaces into a future-past wunderkammer, exploring ideas of time, language, mythology, alchemy, and perception. Created as part of the Detroit portion of the Lille 3000: Renaissance triennial festival, the work was displayed from Sept 2015 - 2017 http://scotthocking.com/babel.html
Scott Hocking was born in Redford Township, Michigan in 1975 and has lived and worked in Detroit since 1996. A sixth-generation Detroiter, he descended from a long line of Baltic Polish immigrants and Cornish copper miners who settled in Michigan’s copper harbor. Hocking creates site-specific installations, sculptures and photographs, often using found materials and neglected locations. Inspired by subjects ranging from ancient mythologies to current events, he focuses on transformation, ephemerality, chance, and the cycles of nature.
Hocking’s work has been exhibited internationally, including the Van Abbemuseum, Kunst-Werke Institute, Kunsthalle Wien, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Smart Museum of Art, the School of the Art Institute Chicago, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Museum, The Mattress Factory Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Cranbrook Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, and the University of Michigan. He has received multiple awards, including a Kresge Artist Fellowship, a Knight Foundation Challenge Grant, and an Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship, as well as residential grants in France, Iceland, Australia, Canada, Brazil, and throughout the United States. He is represented by David Klein Gallery, Detroit.