(About duplicate)

Extrusions

This body of work started when Hornby was shortlisted for a commission to make a permanent sculpture for the cast courts at the V&A in London. His design was for a twelve-metre long ‘stalactite’ formed by taking the outline of Michelangelo’s David and extruding it to a single point. While he did not win the commission, the research that went into the project would go on to form the basis of Hornby’s solo exhibition Nick Hornby: Sculpture (1504–2013) at Churner and Churner in New York and the concurrent public commission: God Bird Drone, also presented in New York in 2013.

The basic principle of this ongoing body of works is a single silhouette extruded and then an action performed, such as reduction to a point, twisting, enlarging and so on. Unlike the Intersection works, the Extrusions to date have involved no combining of sources, only simple manipulations of a single source. As with other bodies of Hornby’s work, digital technology plays a significant role in his design and production processes for the Extrusions. Subsequent Extrusion pieces include a console table for David Gill Gallery, London, and a number have been exhibited at Glyndebourne. A selection of sculptures that form part of the ongoing body of Extrusions works is illustrated in the following pages.

"As the five-century arc of its title would suggest, Nick Hornby’s exhibition at Churner and Churner, ‘Sculpture, 1504–2013,’ made no bones about its ambition, even by means of a few, discreet works.[...]This recent body of work seems more predominantly concerned with a rigorous approach to subtractive form, and a play between corporeal figuration and geometric abstraction. The results so far have been outstanding." 

– Ara H. Merjian, Frieze Magazine issue 162, April 2014.

Public Commissions

Hornby has completed several public commissions in the UK, which critically engage with the legacy of monuments. These include Power over Others is Weakness Disguised as Strength (2023) – Orchard Place, Westminster, London. A five-meter-high 6.5 tonne steel sculpture commissioned by Northacre. From one viewpoint, passers-by will see a man on horseback - as they walk around the work, this image dissolves into a curling line inspired by a squiggle printed in the eighteen-century novel Tristram Shandy Here and There (2023) – One Kensington Gardens, London. A bronze work composed of the figure from Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, by Caspar David Friedrich intersected with a wavy line printed in Tristram Shandy. Do It All (2023) – Royal Warwick Square, Kensington. A monumental bronze sculpture juxtaposing the profile of Nefertiti with the Albert Memorial. Twofold (2019) – Installed in Harlow, this work intersects Michelangelo’s David with abstract geometries inspired by Kandinsky.

Other notable commissions include a presentation of monumental sculpture at Glyndebourne Opera House^[20] in the UK, and 'Bird God Drone,' Commissioned by Two Trees Management Co, in partnership with NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program for outdoor presentation in DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY,^[21] Other notable commissions include a presentation of monumental sculpture at Glyndebourne Opera House^[22] in the UK, and 'Bird God Drone,' Commissioned by Two Trees Management Co, in partnership with NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program for outdoor presentation in DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY,^[23]

Monograph, December 2022

PUBLISHED BY ANOMIE

Nick Hornby is one of the leading sculptors of his generation in Britain today, creating works on both intimate and monumental scales, and at the intersection of art history and contemporary technology. 

"This, his first major monograph, features a foreword by Luke Syson, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, an essay by Dr Hannah Higham, Senior Curator of Collections and Research at the Henry Moore Foundation, and an interview with Dr Helen Pheby, Associate Director, Programme, at Yorkshire Sculpture Park."

256pp + 4pp covers Hardback, 280 × 245 mm (p) c. 175 colour ISBN: 978-1-910221-24-2 RRP: £35 / €40 / $45 UK Release: 8 December 2022 US Release: 29 December 2022 Edited by Matt Price Designed by Herman Lelie Printed by EBS, Verona, Italy Published by Anomie Publishing, UK Distributed by Casemate Art Images © Nick Hornby. Courtesy the artist. Photography by Ben Westoby, Peter Mallet and Studio Nick Hornby.