Four Rochester, NY cultural institutions exhibited the work of Rick McKee Hock (1947-2015) in the fall and winter of 2015 and 2016. These exhibits were a tribute to Hock’s commitment to art and culture in the area, as well as his lasting art. Hock, who passed away in 2015, made extraordinarily complex images filled with references to the history of art, folklore, philosophy, psychology, and poetry, in his uniquely dark yet playful manner of association.

VSW exhibited Hock’s early photographs made within the region as well as selections from several major bodies of work, the Codices, Lost Horizons, and recent drawings and paintings including an incomplete bestiary with poems by photography historian and curator Alison Nordström. Rochester Contemporary Art Center exhibited a series of humorous drawings called Artist vs. Artist, depicting Hock’s contemporary art historical heroes pummeling other artists with perhaps more fame and dominance in the art marketplace. The rotation in the History of Photography Gallery at George Eastman House included an early work of Hock’s, and The University of Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery exhibited two of his renowned Codices works in their galleries.

This exhibition is in part funded by the New York State Council on the Arts Visual Arts Program.