Three Decades of Sculpture
Charles Hadcock In Conversation with Alexander Caspari
Charles Hadcock, Hexad III 2014, ‘Beyond Limits’ Chatsworth House, Courtesy of Sotheby’s
You completed an MA at the Royal College of Art from 1987–89 which was a very formative moment in the history of British contemporary art. What impact do you feel this experience had on you as a young artist? Did it help shape the creative direction you would take?
Studying in the 80’s was indeed a very formative time. I started my foundation in 1983 at Derby and then my degree from 1984-1987 at Cheltenham. Following on from this I attended the Royal College of Art 1987-1989 specializing in sculpture. I feel very lucky to have been at art school at such a pivotal moment. It was a period of change and there was a sense of change happening all around you. At RCA a dialogue would be started with the resident and visiting practicing artists. This exchange could be continued for some time afterwards. I was fortunate to be taught by Phillip King and Bryan Kneale who are widely regarded as some of the most important sculptors of their generation. These personal ‘crits’ were excellent for developing one’s own practice. It was King who suggested early on that I bolt my sculptures together which is a theme that continues to be important in my processes of making today.
Charles Hadcock pictured with graduating class of Royal College of Art alongside Tracey Emin and good friend Jan van der Heiden
Phillip King, Dunstable Reel, 1970 (courtesy of Tate Collection)
I remember hearing about the immediate success of the Goldsmiths’ students Freeze show in the summer of 1988. In the autumn we returned to the RCA with a feeling of missing out and annoyance. We were supposed to be at the best art school and here was a usurper taking our position from under our noses! Many of the more traditional galleries were taken by surprise at the level of interest this new generation of artists were commanding from the press and public. It appeared that the artists were more able to take control of their own destiny and anything was possible. A younger generation of critics, collectors and dealers was also emerging. My own ambition was fuelled by this wave of enthusiasm and having sold out my RCA show I had enough money to set up a studio in a warehouse in Bermondsey at 249 Long Lane. It appeared that I didn’t need to fund my creative practice through teaching like the generation before me. Although I never felt that I belonged to the YBA’s specifically - I was still very determined to situate myself as a maker of sculpture and within a broader history of ideas and objects - this important shift did give me the confidence to forge my own path.
I was capitalising on getting a fair amount of notice from various critics and collectors. I can remember with great joy receiving a letter from prominent collector Doris Saatchi who was at that time the driving force behind The Saatchi Collection. She expressed an interest in my work, specifically, ‘Pride’ 1989 and although she didn’t actually purchase anything she did introduce my sculpture to Berkeley Square Gallery. In 1989 they asked me to put a temporary piece outside the recently opened River Café owned by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers.
Charles Hadcock in his studio at Roach Bridge Mill 2020, pictured with Idiom I & II, 2019
“ I feel as confident now as I did then, the feeling of change in the air is not dissimilar to that of the late 80s and early 90s.”
Hadcock in the foundry working on Caesura V, 1995
Charles Hadcock, The Three Graces, 1990
All of my research in various scrap yards around London had shown me the potential and raw appeal of the manufactured multiple. These salvaged castings often had an intrinsic history and although their former function was usually unknown they had an enigmatic past that fascinated me. I remember turning a largescale cast panel over to reveal a textured surface that had been created by the pressure of the rock/ground imprinting itself into the metal. The memory of the rock had become compressed on the surface like a fossil. I started to research creating my own panels with the rock textured surface on one side and the engineered practical side of the nuts and bolts on the other. This became a metaphor for the interface between the man made and natural for me. I have used this in many works subsequently. My ‘Caesura’ series which started in the early 90’s and continues today is a direct result of this fascination.
I know that the influential critic William Feaver spotted early potential in your work. In 1989 he selected and featured your RCA final pieces in Vogue Magazine. I wonder if in retrospect your early conceptual works were significant in laying the foundations for themes which have become central to your current studio practice?
Yes my idea of “making handmade ready-mades” was picked up by Bill Feaver early on and really became my fuel for working on new concepts. Throughout my student years I was experimenting with monumentality, scale and assemblage, I flirted with some directly allegorical ideas but my core interest was in work that responded to my interest of construction. I remember Philip King explaining that in his opinion sculptors could be described as belonging to two areas, removal of matter through carving and paring away and those that assembled and built. I was part of the latter.
I was always very interested in casting as a process as that was very magical to me. The transformation of metal through fire sparked my imagination and it belonged to one of the oldest processes known to man. We had the luxury of the use of the foundry at Cheltenham and the RCA. I remember using readymade forms that I could adapt and elevate to change their meaning. The casting of the fish boxes and other polystyrene packing cases became an aesthetic I particularly enjoyed. The idea that something lightweight and perishable could be transformed into a heavyweight permanent object was an important breakthrough for me as an emerging artist. I constructed a Bell and Cannon for my RCA degree show which had been cast in the forge and then welded together.
“The transformation of metal through fire sparked my imagination and it belonged to one of the oldest processes known to man.”
Charles Hadcock, Working Model of Caesura VI, 2016
Lynn Chadwick, Stairs, 1991 (Pangolin, London)
Throughout your career your work has often been situated by curators and collectors within the lineage of Modern British Sculpture and that which came after such as The New Generation of the 60’s. To what extent are you influenced by that particular history of sculpture and are there other periods or creative disciplines that inform you also?
I hope that in time to come I will be considered as part of the next generation of British sculptors as well as in dialogue with a wider group of international artists. As discussed above, I was taught by Phillip King at the RCA who in turn was taught by Caro and Moore. This continuity of thought and creative dialogue is exciting. In today’s society when it appears that everyone wants to belong to the ‘now’ or to the ‘instant’ I want my work to sit within a more longstanding history of art and ideas. I am interested in the idea of embedding history into an object. I use techniques to create sculptures which will literally last thousands of years. Perhaps ironically the current trend of the moment does seem to be a return to the tangible - to that which has been carefully considered and made.
I feel very honored to have been exhibited by institutions and galleries alongside some of the sculptors who have contributed so heavily to our cultural landscape. For my work to be recorded and archived in important institutional and private collections of sculpture is also very important to me. For instance, my monumental cast iron sculpture ‘Sesqui’ sits within Lancaster University’s collection alongside a Barbara Hepworth and some amazing Chillida drawings. ‘Torsion’ at Chateau Smith Haute Lafitte is presented alongside Antony Caro, Barry Flanagan, Jim Dine and Paladino.
Charles Hadcock, Torsion II, ‘Beyond Limits’ Chatsworth House, Courtesy of Sotheby’s
In May 1990, Berkeley Square Gallery exhibited my work in a show entitled “A Sculpture Review” 1926-1990 with Modern British sculptors such
as Moore, Chadwick, Frink and Armitage. I showed several recent works such as ‘The Three Graces’ 1990 and therefore my sculpture was positioned as the next step in that history of artistic production. Subsequent shows that have placed my work in this specific context include ‘Shape of the Century’ (Salisbury Cathedral and Canary Wharf), ‘Thinking Big: Concepts for 21st Century British Sculpture’ (Peggy Guggenheim Collection), ‘Abstract & Nature’ (Hatfield House) and Sotheby’s ‘Beyond Limits’ (Chatsworth House).
But that particular history of sculpture is only one small aspect of the arts that inspires me! I am constantly engaged by a wide range of sources from the mechanical parts of the Industrial Revolution to Paleolithic Fossils and Roman Bronzes. For that reason, I was especially pleased to exhibit in 2010 at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge which houses such a diverse collection of objects and artefacts from antiquity to the present day. I have also always enjoyed music, especially classical music from the Romantic period but also that of the early 20th Century. As well as looking at the lives and career of artists I enjoy understanding the lives of composers and their developing ideas of their musical language. It appeals to me to find similarities in my own ambition and creativity.
What are your thoughts on the relationship between music
and sculpture? Many of the titles of your works reference music and you mentioned recently the idea of ‘hearing shapes’ which I found particularly interesting.
“In today’s society when it appears that everyone wants to belong to the ‘now’ or to the ‘instant’ I want my work to sit within a more longstanding history of art and ideas.”
The more music I listen to the more I hear a shape that I want to compose. My ‘Passacaglia’ 1998 located on Brighton Beach is directly inspired by the passacaglia in Peter Grimes by Benjamin Brittan. The title of one of my most well-known
series ‘Caesura’ references the pause or break in a piece of music or poetry. It’s the
pause or gap that can be so emotional, just in the same way that a void or
break can resonate in a sculpture. Sometimes it’s what is not described that is
relevant but the space between. I have always used multiples which I bolt
together or juxtapose. The multiple is like the notes of music for me or the
words in a poem. Individually they mean very little, but integrated in a
composition they start to resonate. Their own language emerges.
Charles Hadcock, Working Model of Hexad, 2016
Eduardo Chillida, Saludo a Parmenides II, 1998 (Cristea Gallery)
“The multiple is like the notes of music for me or the words in a poem. Individually they mean very little but integrated in a composition and they start to resonate.”
Could you speak a little about your thoughts on the importance of public and private patronage as a means to facilitate risk taking and creative experimentation. Is this as important now as an established artist as it was early in your career?
I was fortunate to start in the summer of 1989 in my studio in Bermondsey with a pot of money and an order book all generated from sales to private collectors at my
Degree and MA shows and since then I have always survived through selling my sculpture. Asking for grants in those days was, as now, a very difficult proposition… so I didn’t. Often or not I had interests from a collector who I would steer towards buying the next thing from my portfolio, ideas I wanted to make but couldn’t finance privately. I made it happen by involving interested parties in the whole process. Without their patronage I couldn’t continue. They enjoyed being invited to the studio to see a work in progress and became part of that process of inclusion and involvement. Now I can often fund independently new sculptures that I want to make, although the principle of engaging patrons in my new concepts and processes of making is still very much as it was then.
Charles Hadcock, Cascade, 2018
Most recently I was commissioned to make a new monumental work “Cascade” 2018 in terracotta for a longstanding patron Philip Shirley. I worked closely with Philip consulting on the development of the sculpture and siting the work carefully in his grounds. I enjoyed exchanging ideas with him during studio visits and enjoyed his opinions. I did not feel he was influencing my creative decisions but instead that he was sharing in the excitement of the making process. The Shirley family have been patrons of the arts for centuries. It is gratifying to find that considered collections are still being built by discerning collectors in an art market of increasingly fast decisions and changeable trends.
Charles Hadcock, Installing Caesura IV at Cass Sculpture Foundation, Guardian Newspaper, 1995
In 1994 I heard about the ambition of Wilfrid Cass to create a sculpture park near Goodwood. Stephen Lacey from the Reeds Wharf Gallery arranged for me to visit Goodwood and meet Wilfrid. Stephen had already introduced a contemporary of mine, Peter Randall-Page, to Wilfrid so felt he was pushing at an open door. I was asked to suggest some ideas of a 5m high work. Caesura II had already been bought by Jamie Ritblat (Chairman of Delancey) and Wilfrid liked the fact that I had already sold work from the series to well-known collectors. He enjoyed coming to the studio several times during the process and agreed Caesura IV 1995 could be made. Now I continue to collaborate with a new wave of international sculpture parks, I recently shipped a monumental version of my sculptures Torsion II 2011 and Folium 2011 to an important new site in the US which will hopefully be launched in 2021.
In terms of the commissioning or purchase of public sculpture the formula was to apply for commissions advertised in the Artist Newsletter. I won the competition to make Passacaglia 1998 on Brighton Beach in 1997 and beat over 70 applicants from around the world to win it. It was one of the first public art commissions to be paid for by the National Lottery. It was my first piece of Public Art and subsequently purchases and commissions from leading architects, developers and designers have resulted in 30 monumental works on public display across the UK.
Charles Hadcock, Maquette of Verticil, 2011
You mentioned the 30 monumental sculptures you have on public display but I am also interested in the value you place on your working models and maquettes. How does this aspect of your studio practice relate to the monumental works you are so well known for?
Yes this idea of the sculptor’s ‘maquette’ and preparatory drawings is a compelling one and has been picked up on by several curators over the years. Cass Sculpture Foundation did a touring exhibition of maquettes from their archive which ended up at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice) and I had a wonderful show of large drawings and maquettes ‘‘If in doubt, ask’’ at Imperial College London. My ‘working models’ are a very important part of my studio work and proposals. I use them to really explain to private collectors and public commissioners what I am going to achieve in a larger scale. I do like to think they are pieces in their own right. They are much easier for some collectors to acquire as they are smaller in scale than a monumental piece. They have been very successful over the years and I have placed them into some great collections as a result. I treat them individually and always make them by hand. Although they are part of an edition they are in fact slightly unique each time, a subtle variation on a theme or idea.
Charles Hadcock, Folium, 2011, ‘Beyond Limits’ Chatsworth House, Courtesy of Sotheby’s
“I recently shipped a monumental version of my sculptures Torsion II 2011 and Folium 2011 to an important new site in the US which will hopefully be launched in 2021.”
Charles Hadcock, Caesura VII, 2011 outside at London Art Fair, 2019
I am interested in the process by which you apply mathematical formulae and engineering problems to your creative practice. Some of the theories you are employing derive from figures such as Plato, Vitruvius and Fibonacci. How do you navigate the tension between a 'finished' object and an ongoing intellectual investigation?
I have always enjoyed being rigorous with my intellectual pursuit and reasoning behind an idea for a sculpture. The more facets I research the more this investigation contributes to a sculpture’s overall strength. Process has informed my practice and my practice has informed the process. For instance, the more I have looked at pattern making in the engineering world the more I have been able to use that process to my advantage. I re-purpose the techniques to really push the possibilities of casting.
Geometry theorises the end result but also breaks down a composition into smaller elements. These elements then are fragments of a whole. Tools such as the Golden Ratio, Euclid’s rules or Descartes techniques are just mechanisms I use for composition, they are not magic formulae that give the object power. However, I often find that employing historically repeated forms, such as the juxtaposition of ‘circle’ and ‘square’, do give sculptures an authority that is sometimes unexplainable. In my works elements are fitted together in the relationship that Alberti (1404-72) described as “concinnitas” from the ‘De Re Aedifiatoria’ 1452. This means the apt correspondence of part to part, the ability of one detail to give a clear visual response to another.
Since moving from your studio in Bermondsey in the late 90’s you have developed an impressive studio complex at Roach Bridge Mill next to the river Darwen. Could you speak about the importance of your creative landscape?
In 2000 I moved from my space in Bermondsey to the North to be closer to my network of foundries and other suppliers. My studio is located at Roach Bridge Mill (1784), right next to the river Darwen which is beautiful and provides a constant flow of inspiration.
The site has large exhibition spaces to view pieces as they evolve and to show clients finished work in a gallery style environment. I also store my archive here placing equal importance on historic and current sculptures. I have about a 2 acres of yard space to show monumental outdoor works. This has the benefit of a variety of backgrounds ranging from rural to urban to show the works against. I am aware that my complex is a complete luxury for one individual artist but I need to be absolutely confident that I have the facilities necessary to deliver monumental sculptures to the highest specification around the world as required.
I have always enjoyed John Berger’s view on the landscape that artists create around themselves. My working environment has always been vitally important to me. It is the landscape I create around myself - it is the landscape that defines me and my practice.
Hadcock in his studio at Roach Bridge Mill, 2020 pictured with Idiom III. 2019
Hadcock’s Studio at Roach Bridge Mill
Charles Hadcock
Charles Hadcock (1965) studied fine art at the Royal College of Art, London (1987-89), specialising in sculpture. He established his first studio in 1989 in Bermondsey, London, where he worked until his practice outgrew the space. In 1999 he moved to Lancashire and established a large studio complex at Roach Bridge Mill to facilitate the physical and conceptual space necessary to develop his sculpture. With a studio practice built up over the last 30 years, Hadcock is constantly refining his technique, each work being informed by those before. His first solo exhibition was in London in 1991. His work has been featured in important institutional exhibitions including the New Art Centre in 1989, ’Shape of the Century’ exhibitions at Canary Wharf and Salisbury Cathedral in 1999,‘Bronze: Contemporary British Sculpture’ at Holland Park in 2000,‘Thinking Big: Concepts for Twenty-First Century British Sculpture’ at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in 2002,‘Sculpture Promenade’ at The Fitzwilliam Museum in 2009, and ‘Abstract & Nature’ at Hatfield House in 2010. In both 2011 and 2016, he was invited to exhibit at Sotheby’s ‘Beyond Limits’ at Chatsworth House. Both exhibitions resulted in acquisitions by important European and American sculpture parks. Throughout a prolific 30 years of exhibition activity, Hadcock has shown alongside major figures of British sculpture including Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth,Anthony Caro, and Lynn Chadwick and contemporaries including Antony Gormley, Tony Cragg and Rachel Whiteread. Over 30 of Hadcock’s monumental sculptures are on permanent public view throughout the UK and Europe most notably at Brighton Beach, Jubilee Park (Canary Wharf), and Holland Park. His work forms part of the collections of Artemis Investment, Cass Sculpture Foundation, Château Smith Haut Lafitte, Canary Wharf Group PLC, Clyde and Co., Scottish Widows, Delancey, British Land, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Platinum Equity, and St James Homes Ltd. His work is included in prominent private collections throughout the world.