Charles Hadcock was born in Derby in 1965 and now lives in the North West based in Preston. He studied fine art at the Royal College of Art, London (1987-89), specialising in sculpture and in 2008 was made a fellow of the RBS. In April 2007 he was made a recipient of the Queens Award for Enterprise Promotion. Hadcock's monumental sculpture reflect his interest in geology, engineering and mathematics and are enriched by references to music and poetry.
Aspects of the natural world and geology lie in combination within Charles Hadcock's work, openly, or as hidden jewels. Finding that forms observed within the natural world are often the source for solving practical design problems, Hadcock, has utilised this both at first- and at second-hand. His direct observation of rock surfaces, for example, has provided sources for the surface of his sculptures, while at second-hand he has appropriated items such as designed or engineered solutions for packaging, and machinery of various types. These, cast in other materials become components for his sculptures.
Mathematics comes to the fore in planning how a sculpture will work. A curve drawn with a free hand on paper requires more than just good will to make it work in solid three dimensions. Calculating how a sculpture can be segmented into identical shapes, so that casting from a single form may be achieved with economy, needs a mathematical mind. This may sound a stultifying process, but Hadcock works it with visual vitality, so that the sculpture remains free and dynamic, unrestrained and immediate. He works creatively with number, as in Fibonacci numbers and the Golden Section, based on his own body height in many of his sculptures. The multiple, whether made by Hadcock or appropriated by him from elsewhere, emerges in his work.
Because of his abiding interest in engineering and industrial processes, Hadcock prefers to work with industrial companies rather than fine art foundries, for portions of his sculpture are to be as anonymous as factory made items. The eye and hand of the artist is to be found more in his choice of parts and in locating them within the whole sculptural structure, and in the essentially magical element of intuition.
Accord - London Bridge
Accord - London Bridge
Accord
Accord
Caesura VI - Holland Park
Caesura VI - Holland Park
Caesura VI
Caesura VI
Caesura VIII - Canary Wharf
Caesura VIII - Canary Wharf
Caesura VIII
Caesura VIII
Folium
Folium
Folium
Folium
Helisphere II - 2011 - Canary Wharf
Helisphere II - 2011 - Canary Wharf
Helisphere II
Helisphere II
Heptad
Heptad
Hexad II
Hexad II
Hexad III
Hexad III
Hexad I
Hexad I
Torsion II
Torsion II
Torsion
Torsion
Verticil II
Verticil II
Verticil
Verticil
Sans Titre
Sans Titre
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 – Charles Hadcock, Encounter Contemporary, Mayfair, London UK
2014 – Elements, Encounter Contemporary, 60 Threadneedle Street, London, UK
2011 – Jubilee Park, Canary Wharf, London
2010 – Wigan Sculpture Garden, Wigan, UK
2009 – Drumcroon Gallery, Wigan. UK
2009 – Royal Society of British Sculptors, London, UK
2006 – Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
2004 – Miller Park and Harris Museum, Preston, UK
2003 – Canary Wharf, London, UK
2003 – Mananan International Music Festival, Isle of Man, UK
2000 – Gardner Arts Centre, University of Sussex, Sussex, UK
1999 – Maidstone Library Gallery, Kent, UK
1999 – Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, UK
1997 – University Gallery, University of Essex, Essex, UK
1996 – Reeds Wharf Gallery, London, UK
1992 – Crypt Gallery, St Georges Church, London, UK
1991 – 249 Long Lane, London, UK
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016 – Sotheby’s: Beyond Limits with Zaha Hadid, Lynn Chadwick, Ju Ming, Joana Vasconcelos, Erwin Wurm, Cristina Iglesias, Bruce Munro, Chatsworth House, UK
2011-12 – London Bridge City Sculpture Exhibition, London, UK
2011 – A Decade of Sculpture in the Garden, UK
2011 – Sotheby’s: Beyond Limits with Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, Yayoi Kusama, Ron Arad, Jaume Plensa, Marc Quinn, Lynn Chadwick, Barry Flanagan, William Turnbull, Chatsworth House, UK
2010 – Abstract & Nature with Terence Coventry, Lynn Chadwick, Sir Anthony Caro, Paul Mount, Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, UK
2010 – Ironstone, Kidwelley Castle, Wales, UK
2009 – Sculpture Promenade, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK
2009 – Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Ireland
2003 – Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London, UK
2003 – Sculpture in the Park, Ayckley Heads, Durham, UK
2003 – North Light Gallery, Huddersfield, UK
2003 – Bryanston School, 75th Anniversary Exhibition, Dorset, UK
2003 – Hannah Peschear Sculpture Garden, Surrey, UK
2002 – Thinking Big: Concepts for Twenty-first Century British Sculpture with Henry Moore, Eduardo Paolozzi, Rachel Whiteread, Anthony Caro, Tony Cragg, Marc Quinn, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
2002 – Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London, UK
2000 – Cheltenham Open Drawing Exhibition, UK
2000 – Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London, UK
2000 – Bronze: Contemporary British Sculpture with Sean Henry, David Nash, Eilis O’Connell, William Pye, Bill Woodrow, Holland Park, London, UK
1999 – Drawings and Models, Noordbrabants Museum, Holland
1999 – Shape of the Century, Canary Wharf, London, UK
1999 – Shape of the Century, Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, UK
1999 – Drawings and Models, Mannheim, Germany
1999 – Bankside Browser, Tate Gallery, Bankside, London, UK
1998 – Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, Brighton, UK
1998 – Hannah Peschear Sculpture Garden, Surrey, UK
1998 – Interactive, Amerada Hess, Grosvenor Place, London, UK
1997 – Lewes Sculpture Trail, Lewes, East Sussex, UK
1996 – How Did They Do That? Royal Institute of British Architects, UK
1989 – New Art Centre Sculpture Garden, Roche Court, Salisbury, UK
1989 – A Sculpture Review, Berkeley Square Gallery, London, UK
1989 – Sculpture in Paradise, Chichester Festival, Chichester, UK
1989 – MA Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK
SELECTED PUBLIC & CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Allied Domecq, Bristol, UK
Artemis Investment Management, London, UK
AMEC Developments, UK
BAA, Gatwick Airport, UK
Brighton Council, UK
Barratt Homes Ltd, London, UK
Cass Sculpture Foundation, UK
Chateaux Smith Haut Lafitte, France
Clyde and Co, London, UK
Canary Wharf Group PLC, London, UK
Delancey, London, UK
Fuller, Smith and Turner PLC, London, UK
Imperial Chemical Industries PLC, UK
Logica Yachts, Italy
Luxlo, London, UK
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, UK
St James Homes Limited, London, UK
Scottish Widows, London, UK
