Doug Cocker

Doug Cocker is a contemporary sculptor who is based and works in Scotland. Born in Perthshire in, Cocker has built up an international reputation with his work exhibited in both public and private collections in Britain and North America. After studying at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, he received many awards and scholarships and completed postgraduate studies in New York and Greece. He has worked as a lecturer in sculpture at art schools in Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Northampton, Newcastle, Ontario and Philadelphia.

In 1990 Doug Cocker took the decision to become a full-time sculptor.

Being raised in a rural area of central Scotland had a significant influence on Cocker’s practice. Coming from a long line of farmers and blacksmiths, he would spend holidays doing jobs such as picking berries and ‘tattie houking’. We can see evidence of this in both his subject and his physical engagement with the act of making, his profound interest in material.

Artist biography by Grampian Hospitals Art Trust, 2023.