Alex Hoda

Alex Hoda is a sculptor, born in Canterbury in 1980. He was educated at Wimbledon College of Art and Goldsmiths College, graduating from the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 2008. Hoda lives and works in London. Hoda's practice has evolved significantly from his initial figurative groupings of deformed, post-apocalyptic creatures, finished in his signature materials of latex and rubber. Imbued with a fetishistic aesthetic, these confrontational works often shocked the viewer into confronting their own fears, anxieties and fantasies; challenging them to question their fundamental understanding of love, sex, pride and death. These radical…

Alex Hoda is a sculptor, born in Canterbury in 1980. He was educated at Wimbledon College of Art and Goldsmiths College, graduating from the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 2008. Hoda lives and works in London.

Hoda's practice has evolved significantly from his initial figurative groupings of deformed, post-apocalyptic creatures, finished in his signature materials of latex and rubber. Imbued with a fetishistic aesthetic, these confrontational works often shocked the viewer into confronting their own fears, anxieties and fantasies; challenging them to question their fundamental understanding of love, sex, pride and death. These radical subjects belie the enduring themes the work explores and subvert the canon of classical sculpture in which he works.

His most recent sculpture is a continuation of his successful 2011 show at 20 Projects - 'Type One Errors', a show entitled after a diagnostic term, used when a null or fundamental hypothesis is wrongly rejected and produces an incorrect conclusion. Here, Hoda refers to our ability to arrive at a false premise by misinterpreting what is in front of us, due to the wealth of associations and prejudgements automatically triggered by our subconscious. Hoda's writhing metal forms, at once suggestive and impenetrable, ask us to consider whether a 'Type One Error' of biased or predetermined reading occurs when interpreting abstract sculpture.

In his current practice, Hoda also uses a technique of automatism to challenge the viewer's approach to figurative sculpture. The works on display recall a surrealist agenda, one that is summed up by Max Ernst's desire for 'the viewer to witness the emergence of the work'; what the viewer's sub-conscious brings to the sculpture ultimately determines its reading.

Recent solo exhibitions include University of the Arts London; Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne and Royal British Sculpture Society, London, 20 Projects, Berlin. Recent group shows include CCA Andratx, Mallorca, Allsopp Contemporary, London, 20 Projects, London and 'Newspeak, British Art Now' at the Saatchi Gallery, London. Hoda's newest sculpture, Whirlwind, was installed on the grounds of the Cass Sculpture Foundation as sculpture for sale in October 2011.