ARTIST · BRISTOL
Alaric Hobbs Alaric Hobbs is a Bristol-based artist working across sculpture, installation, performance and drawing. Through the collection, transformation and recontextualisation of discarded materials, municipal infrastructure and everyday objects, his practice explores how people, objects and systems adapt to changing social, political and environmental conditions.
Influenced by time spent working alongside refugees in Athens, years living in Berlin, and an ongoing interest in the structures that shape public life, Hobbs investigates themes of belonging, exclusion, resilience and displacement.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My practice is shaped by encounters with injustice, displacement, and uneven access to safety. Working alongside refugees in Athens, years living in a historically divided Berlin, and my own experiences of structural inequity form the emotional and political ground of my work. Sculpture becomes a way to think through these tensions, tracing connections between objects that appear unrelated yet share underlying histories of conflict, exclusion, or environmental strain.
I work with found objects and detritus, gravitating toward materials marked by wear. Textures, stains, dents, and abrasions hold layered narratives, resonating with overlooked or suppressed experiences. I treat these fragments as collaborators rather than passive matter. Their suggestive qualities interrupt perfectionism and push my process toward intuition, play, and a willingness to let materials behave unpredictably or redirect the work.
Themes of hostile design, climate crisis, and migration run through my practice. By repurposing the residue of consumerist society, I aim to expose how abundance produces its own forms of exclusion, and how environmental degradation driven largely by consumption in wealthy nations intensifies global displacement. My sculptures transform frustration into physical forms that embody resilience and defiance. They unsettle apathy and invite viewers to confront the entanglement of privilege, environmental harm, and human vulnerability.
“Alaric’s proposal presented a powerful and confidently realised concept, combining a strong sculptural presence with a timely exploration of consumerism, class and environmental concerns.” — Jonathan Baldock, selector for the Old Market Lawn commission 2026
Based Bristol, United Kingdom
Works with Sculpture, Drawing, Photography, Installation, Film & video, Performance
Practice Abstract, political, interactice.
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