David Hicks

David Hicks is an artist based in Glasgow who graduated with an MFA in Fine Art Practice from the Glasgow School of Art in 2024.

My practice is centred around the making of casting and found objects (and casting from found objects) in a combined dialogue, to communicate and highlight the fragility of the systems we are subjected to daily, often without our conscious knowing. These systems are often 'owned' and influenced by 'bad actors' hidden by further opaque systems e.g. think tanks, offshore funds, complex corporates.

Working with Bricolage as a methodology and philosophy, I use found and reclaimed objects often with a strong back-story. These objects often come from a corporate or commercial setting, whether from offices or the fabric of the building the office was conatained in. These objects can be shown as ready mades, used as 'foils' for my casting pieces or used as moulds to cast from.

A recent example of this is where I used an office strip light diffuser cover as a mould, then casting multiples from this in Jesmonite to produce a giant barcode.

I am also interested in corporate narratives around 'performance at work' e.g. the 'corporate athlete'. To communicate this I cast a swim float in a number of contradictory materials such as jesmonite, concrete and soap. This was situated in both a bureaucratic and athletic aesthetic.

Similarly, I utilised brand signage lettering as moulds to create casts in plaster - from this I made various non-sense words alluding to corporate-speak or jargon.

These works are often presented in 'scenes' or installations often incorporating light. My work is presented as puzzles, often with a myriad of associations and connections, which I leave up to the viewer to decode.

Although I worked in business and commerce for much of my career (I'm a recovering management consultant and MBA grad!) I have had a functioning art practice for many years. This started with photography and soon developed into sculpture and expanded drawing. Over the past 10 years, I have been interested (obsessed) with found objects and materials and the power they have to communicate, when relocated to a 'gallery' environment.

Recently completing ('24) my Masters in Fine Art Practice at GSA was a major step in taking my practice to the next stage. During my Masters, I developed a large body of experimental and research-based work utilising casting and found objects.

This is currently the core of my practice as I prepare for group and solo shows in London, in 2025.