This May, Doug Cocker, one of Scotland’s leading sculptors, unveils a dynamic new body of work at Dovecot Studios in collaboration with The Scottish Gallery. Renowned for his masterful use of wood, Cocker draws inspiration from the landscape and natural environment surrounding his converted mill studio in the heart of the Angus countryside. Marking his 80th year, the exhibition offers a rare and insightful exploration of the threads, themes and influences that have shaped his distinguished career. Known for his ability to harness the natural qualities of wood into compelling sculptural forms, Cocker’s work is testament to the power of shape, movement, and colour, often echoing music and the rhythms of the natural world in unexpected and thought-provoking ways. The installation exhibition, which is his most ambitious to date, is a celebration of a lifetime dedicated to sculptural practice.
The artist explains:
Threads is principally an exhibition of sculpture. The Dovecot Balcony is a generous and distinctive space which provides an opportunity to re-assess and explore common threads and themes within my practice, past and present. The wood I use in my constructions are locally sourced, ash, oak, larch, damson, pine, bog oak and purpleheart. The South Wall accommodates one work for its full length: Musica Universalis is a 70-piece installation constructed in ash. The North Wall can be seen as five discrete sections (conditioned by the balcony’s columns) each of which houses groups of related works. Each of the 5 tableaux comprises a commonality of ideas among their component artworks. These sculptures are accompanied by framed works on the West Wall incorporating drawings, collages and reliefs.
Doug Cocker was brought up in rural Perthshire and comes from a long line of farmers and blacksmiths. He taught sculpture at Nene College, Northampton and Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen and over a period of twenty years he was visiting lecturer at Edinburgh University, Edinburgh College of Art, The Glasgow School of Art, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, Tyler University, Philadelphia, Georgian College, Ontario and Newcastle Polytechnic from 1992–1998. He was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1984. Cocker has undertaken many public sculpture commissions including the Ben Lomond Memorial at Rowardennan and the Glasgow Bouquet in the Merchant City, Glasgow. Doug Cocker’s sculpture is the artist’s response to the landscape and natural environment around him. Working predominately in wood, his studio in Lundie, outside Dundee, is a magnificent thinking space where the walls are littered with evolving ideas.
Public commissions include:
Aberdeen, Ayr, Bristol, Cardiff, Colchester, Dubai, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kirkcaldy, Newcastle, Oldbury, Perth
Public collections include:
Aberdeen Art Gallery; Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre; The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum; City Art Centre, Edinburgh; Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow; Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow; Greenshields Foundation, Montreal; Peterborough Art Gallery; Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture, Edinburgh; Northampton Art Gallery; Essex County Council; Kirkcaldy Galleries; Perth Museum and Art Gallery; The Ballinglen Archive, County Mayo; Robert Gordon University Collection, Aberdeen; University of Dundee; Boswell Collection, University of St. Andrews; Arts Council of Great Britain; Old Hawkhill, City of Dundee, Dundee; University of Stirling; Hospitalfield, Arbroath; University of South Wales Art Collection Museum
Please note that this exhibition is on the tapestry studio viewing balcony and is open for limited hours – Monday to Friday, 12:00 – 15:00 and Saturday, 10:00 – 17:00.
