Joe Hancock

Manchester

Interdisciplinary artist investigating the philosophy of making by considering it to be a universal defining human preoccupation.

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Biography

I am an interdisciplinary visual artist with a research-based practice, investigating expanded theories of ‘making’ by considering it to be a universal defining human preoccupation.

I am currently undertaking an MA in Fine Art at Manchester School of Art. Previous study includes: Leeds College of Art (Foundation: distinction, 2010), Glasgow School of Art (Sculpture and Environmental Art: First Class Honours, 2014) and School of the Art Institute of Chicago (exchange programme, 2012).

My work has been shown in Glasgow, London, Manchester, Leeds, Blackpool and Edinburgh, where I was selected for RSA New Contemporaries 2015 for my work ‘Deus Ex Machina’.

I collaborate with academics and other artists to produce investigative works and papers that expand my practice beyond the studio.

Before commencing postgraduate study I was an associate lecturer at the University of Huddersfield, teaching Contemporary Art and Illustration, and have also taught undergraduates at Leeds Beckett and Leeds Arts universities.

I provide consultation to arts commissioning organisations on public sculpture projects e.g. Engels’ Beard, University of Salford; professional services to artist-led spaces e.g. AIR Gallery, Altrincham; and fabrication services to artists e.g. Hannah Leighton-Boyce, Darren Nixon, Nicola Dale and Lisa Stansbie.

Artist Statement

I am interested in how any thing – an object, an action or an idea – is made.

I investigate expanded theories of making, considering it a universal defining human preoccupation.

I make performances, installations, sculptures, text, photography and conceptual works. These generate interdisciplinary approaches toward a unified theory of making, mapping and modelling making processes in any form, and creating new permutations of creative activity.

My meticulous working process invokes all actions involved in making something, from concept to realisation, as vital and discreet components of the finished work:

I consider my works strictly as documentation of their making process.

Working collaboratively with artists and curators I investigate the ways in which materials, methods, practice and techniques encapsulate lived experience, historical fact and personal expression.

Specifically, I am interested in the similarities, differences and interrelationships between acts of labour and of art work, including ‘repair’ as a creative, networked, social form of making.

Shelves, benches and other quotidian constructions emerge within my practice as literal and metaphorical platforms for the development of an analytical, poetic ontology of making.

Some of my work is invisible. Given the chance, I would make works the size of nations.

+/- [maquette]

By Joe Hancock

Interloper

By Joe Hancock

How to put up a shelf (I)

By Joe Hancock

OxOxO

By Joe Hancock

Hand of the artist

By Joe Hancock

Catawampus Schematic

By Joe Hancock

Catawampus Version

By Joe Hancock

Catawampus

By Joe Hancock

Rosary

By Joe Hancock

X?Y: How to put up a shelf (V)

By Joe Hancock

How to put up a shelf (IV)

By Joe Hancock

Migraine with Ophthalmoplegia

By Joe Hancock

Solo Exhibitions

2017 – X≠Y: How to put up a shelf (V) – Curator’s Choice series, Leeds Arts University
2016 – (8 off) – &Model Gallery, Leeds
2016 – Deus Ex Machina – &Model North, Leeds

Selected Group Exhibitions

2019 – MA/MFA Degree Show – HOME, Manchester
2019 – Each Toward The Other – Bury Sculpture Centre
2019 – Manifestation – Rogue Artists’ Studios, Manchester
2019 – This Land is Our Land – PAPER, Manchester
2019 – INTER-SECTION – The Market Gallery, Huddersfield
2019 – Left Bank Leeds Arts Prize 2019 – Leeds
2019 – All Work and All Play – AIR Gallery, Altrincham
2018 – PLACE, SPACE, ACTION – The Market Gallery, Huddersfield
2017 – FIX – ICW… (In Collaboration With…), Blackpool
2017 – MAKE//SHIFT – AIR Gallery, Altrincham, Manchester
2017 – Internal Structures – Manifest Festival, Artwork Atelier, Salford
2016 – Progress / Manchester Histories Festival – Rogue Studios, Manchester (collaboration with Nicola Dale)
2015 – Phoenix Exhibition – Glasgow School of Art
2015 – New Scottish Artists – The Fleming Collection, London
2015 – RSA New Contemporaries 2015 – Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2014 – Looking at the reflection of reality – Mark Devereux Projects, Manchester
2014 – eX – blip blip blip, Leeds
2014 – Part Seen, Imagined Part: GSA in Dunoon – Dunoon Burgh Hall
2014 – Undergraduate Showcase – Glasgow School of Art

Education

2020-23 – PhD (title: A Vector Model Of Making) – Full Scholarship – Nottingham Trent University
2018-19 – MA Fine Art – Distinction – Manchester School of Art
2010-14 – BA(Hons) Sculpture and Environmental Art – First Class Honours – Glasgow School of Art
2012 – Exchange programme – School of the Art Institute of Chicago, U.S.A.
2009-10 – Foundation Diploma in Fine Art – Distinction – Leeds College of Art

Current Projects

A Vector Model of Making – practice-based research developing theoretical models of making.
(8 off) – Stage 2 – distributed network of 8 benches functioning as sites of making, recording the stories of their use upon their surface.
Repair – extended practice and research based project considering ‘repair’ as a form of making.
How to put up a shelf – ongoing series of works exploring the ontology of a shelf as an object and phenomenological construct.

Residencies

2017 – ICW… (In Collaboration With…), Blackpool – ‘FIX’ – one-month residency & exhibition with artist Nicola Ellis
2016 – &Model Gallery, Leeds – four-month solo residency
2014-15 – Castlefield Gallery New Art Spaces, Federation House, Manchester – five-month residency

Conference Presentations

2017 – New Modes of Art Writing Event 2 – MMU, Manchester, UK – Conversation with a future sculpture (first public presentation)

Selected Talks

2016 – University of Huddersfield – artist talk – 60 minute presentation & Q+A
2016 – & Model North, Leeds – artist talk – 60 minute presentation & Q+A
2016 – Leeds Beckett University – artist talk – 90 minute presentation & Q+A
2016 – Leeds Arts University – artist talk – introduction to ‘Repair’ project
2015 – Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh – artist talk – Creative Conversations series

Awards / Bursaries

2019 – PhD funding – full University Scholarship, Nottingham Trent University (commencing 2020)
2016 – Arts Council England – individual Grants for the Arts
2014 – Phoenix Bursary
2010 – Harry Meadley Prize

Reviews & Media

2019 – Axisweb – Artist of the Month (July)
2019 – Axisweb – New Art Highlights selection – +/- [maquette]
2018 – Axisweb – New Art Highlights selection – How to put up a shelf (I)
2018 – Axisweb – Category of the week: Live Art – (8 off)
2018 – Axisweb – Category of the week: Exhibition – Catawampus
2018 – Axisweb – Category of the week: Residency – (8 off)
2017 – Axisweb – Category of the week: Practice-based research – (8 off)
2017 – ASAP/Journal, Johns Hopkins University – feature review by Catriona McAra – & Model Gallery Sumer Residency 2016
2017 – Axisweb – Category of the Week: Sculpture, selected by Rebecca Senior (Axisweb / MMU / Corridor 8) – How to put up a shelf (IV)
2017 – Axisweb – Five To Watch selected by Thomas Dukes of Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool – X≠Y
2017 – Axisweb – Category of the Week: Intervention – selected artist – How to put up a shelf (IV)
2017 – Corridor 8 – feature review by Karen Tobias Green – X≠Y
2017 – Axisweb – New Art Highlights selection – How to put up a shelf (IV)
2016 – Axisweb – Five To Watch selection – Deus Ex Machina
2016 – a-n – review by Bob Dickinson – Progress / Manchester Histories Festival – The Work As A Result
2015 – The Skinny – review by Adam Benmakhlouf – RSA New Contemporaries exhibition – Deus Ex Machina
2015 – Arts Press – review by Tim Cornwell – RSA New Contemporaries exhibition – Deus Ex Machina
2014 – The Skinny – review by Adam Benmakhlouf – GSA Degree Show – Anthorn

Publications

2015 – What A Week – catalogue essay for Phoenix Exhibition, Glasgow
2013 – Cataphote, or, Beauty Is In The I of the Beholder – artist book / text work, Glasgow / Leeds / Chicago, U.S.A.
2011 – Artist interview – in ‘Catalogue Available’ by Alex Farrar, Leeds

Collections

School of the Art Institute, Chicago – Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection
Glasgow School of Art – Artists’ Book Collection
Leeds Arts University – Artists’ Book Collection
Private collections in New York (USA), Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester.

Teaching

2016-18 – University of Huddersfield – Associate Lecturer, BA(Hons) Contemporary Art & Illustration
2016 – Leeds Arts University – Associate Lecturer, BA(Hons) Fine Art
2016 – Leeds Beckett University – Visiting Artist
2016 – Leeds Beckett University – Visiting Tutor
2015 – Glasgow School of Art – Workshop Instructor

Professional Activity

(ongoing) – Mentor and advisor to artists (freelance working with arts organisations)
2019 – AIR Gallery – selector and advisor – Open Exhibition (group exhibition)
2019 – AIR Gallery – appointed trustee
2018 – AIR Gallery – selector and advisor – PLAY (group exhibition)
2018 – AIR Gallery – selector and advisor – Platform Bursary (emerging artist award, mentoring & exhibition)
2017 – Leeds Arts University / Leeds City Council – technical consultancy – Female Public Sculpture Project (forthcoming commissioned public artwork)
2015-16 – Engine Productions / University of Salford / Entre-Prises UK Ltd. – technical project management, design and fabrication – Engels’ Beard (large outdoor public sculpture & climbing wall)
2015-16 – Darren Nixon (Manchester) – technical instruction and fabrication – The Awkward Ambassador (commissioned painting / installation)

Fabrication

2018 – Hannah Leighton-Boyce, Manchester – Dreaming of Dead Fish – exhibition fabrication & technical support
2017 – Brass Art, Manchester – Gestured – exhibition fabrication & technical support
2017 – Ian Jackson, London – Farmers Tan – design & fabrication
2017 – Nicola Dale, Manchester – It Stares Us Down – sculptural fabrication
2016 – Maurice Carlin, Salford – Temporary Custodians – sculptural design & fabrication
2016 – Maurice Carlin, Salford – Storage / Stowage – sculptural design & fabrication
2015 – Lisa Stansbie, Leeds – Swimming Machine – sculptural design & fabrication

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