Chris Horner
Chris Horner is a sculptor and installation artist who has exhibited throughout England, particularly in London. Selected solo exhibitions include features at The George Alton in Hampshire...
Chris Horner is a sculptor and installation artist who has exhibited throughout England, particularly in London. Selected solo exhibitions include features at The George Alton in Hampshire, University for the Creative Arts in Surrey, The Old Diorama Arts Centre Gallery in Drummond, and St, Regent's Place in London. Notable collective exhibitions include shows at RWS Gallery, Croydon Art Space, Bermondsey Project Space, St John's Church Gardens, Bankside Gallery, 48 Hopton Street, and Copeland Gallery in London, Allen Gallery in Hampshire, as well as Copeland Gallery and The West Downs Gallery in Winchester. Chris was featured in a self-titled short film by Noiziac studios, interviewed several times by Wey Valley Radio based in Holybourne, and was awarded a residency at University for the Creative Arts in Surrey.
Typically using salvaged and used construction building materials, particularly used cement bags, Chris revitalizes these pieces of thrown-out trash into priceless works of art. His work remains a statement about intrinsic value and social commentary on blue collar trades. The ‘cement bags’, which are also used to hold building sand or ballast, are symbolic representations of his family background in construction work, as the bags are taken directly from dumping containers after use. These particular cement bags belong to his father after labor, creating a direct correlation between the work of art and Chris’ blue collar roots. He then crystalizes the bags with paraffin wax and resin, paints them, then finishes them off with varnish in order to emanate a glass-like effect.
The ‘trash’ used in Chris Horner’s art, whether cement bags or installations made from used building materials, remains conceptual upon the specific notion of taking objects associated with his family background (through literal garbage) and making a statement about them by turning them into fine works of sculpture to be admired in a gallery. The process remains just as vital as the finished surface, revealing an aptitude towards bridging a direct connection of high art to the working class. In contemporary society, notions of high art are usually associated with people with graduate degrees and the immensely wealthy who can spare the funds in the thousands or millions of dollars for highly-regarded work. By using original and directly sourced, salvaged building material, Chris creates a statement on how high art can be correlated and appealed to the working class. These cement bags have a pristine yet expressive finish, eloquent in the loose and splattered brushwork but immaculate in the varnished surface.
Mannok (pictured above) depicts one of Chris’ signature cement bag pieces notably with a natural brightly-colored yellow base tone. He marks the bag with strategic brushstrokes in a manner which seems almost tribalistic. Perhaps Chris could be indicating the cement bag represents his ‘tribe’ of the working class through the marks and metaphorical depiction.
What makes Chris Horner’s work remarkable remains the willingness to go far beyond technique and create concepts in process and sociological representation. All too often, artists become locked in technique, although material and process remains vitally important, what gives historical intrinsic value to art would be the willingness to directly create commentary on societal impact and correlated personal relationships. Chris Horner achieves such a marker through provocative analogy and symbolism correlating with his historical and sociological environment.
