The twenty-four wall sculptures which comprise the suite titled Third Variations make primary use of geometric shapes and solids: ovoids, circles, rectangles, cylinders, lines, curves and so on.
The variations evolve from consideration and manipulation of the usual formal aspects of sculpture: proportion, shadow, light and shade, intervening spaces, implied movement, scale, depth, colour, placement etc.
There is no intended narrative.
This work could be perceived as rooted in the traditions of constructivism: i.e. additive or subtractive construction as opposed to traditional modelling or carving techniques.
It is, for me, part of an ongoing, though variable, process: working in series to investigate the possibilities (by speculating and improvising) inherent in wall relief compositions.
In this instance the works are smaller in scale than is usual. They employ the use of ash and sycamore with the application of one or two colours.
Making works in series has, for some years, been my preferred route to conclusions. Working in this way, I find that the sculpture feeds the sculpture: testing a notion invariably raises alternative ideas. Consistency of scale and palette provides control of a kind, but the pieces are essentially instinctual and improvisational.
Earlier works such as Diaspora (Talbot Rice Edinburgh 1995), Speaking in Tongues (John David Mooney Gallery, Chicago 2003), The Plural, made in 2012 (collection of McManus Gallery, Dundee ), and Songlines, made in 2019, (collection of St Andrews University) followed a similar working procedure despite their differing identities.
Doug Cocker March 2024
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. Themes and Variations is his first solo exhibition with The Scottish Gallery which will be shown in conjunction with Dovecot Studios.
