Scott Hocking | OLD at David Klein Gallery (Detroit)

David Klein Gallery
Apr 13, 2018 3:09PM

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.

David Klein Gallery