Nick Hornby answers FAD’s questions

1 When did you start to make art?
At School I took up pottery – but everytime I started making a pot it ended up more of an abstract lump. Bit by bit the lumps got bigger.

2 How did you evolve into a professional artist?
For my MA show I built a lifesize slice of a 727… 12 foot tall… and placed it outside in the Parade Ground. It was very visible, then the day of the opening it blew over – and I think this became a starting point. The same sculpture then went into the basement of Selfridges with Kay Saatchi’s showcase “Anticipation,” and after that ended up in the new HQ of Sony BMG. Then I built a 22 foot pink castle that floating in a pond in Kings Cross, which sold to David Roberts Foundation, and then was commissioned to do an intervention at Tate Britain as part of the Altermoden interpretation. I think it happened somewhere there.

3 What drove you to make art as a professional vocation?
Hmmm, I’m not sure I like the idea of it as a vocation – that seems a little spiritual. Art’s what I find most interesting in the world… especially objects and sculpture. I want to look at it and I want to be a part of the conversation – horizontally and vertically: my goal is to develop a practice that’s able to make sense with historic, and contemporary art.

4 Explain your inspiration?
People often say “whats the idea behind that” and its funny the idea of “behind that.” I think a good sculpture is one which you want to walk around to see the other side. I think you can in theory keep going back and back. I’m not sure you really ever know where the origin of an idea is. I think we inherit and then accrue baggage, and ideas, which you then use to filter and translate more immediate things.

5 In what way does your inspiration transform into ideas?
I think this is very interesting question. I’m interested in stretching that point between idea and reality. Within Christian doctrine its “greater to exist than not to.” Sometimes I think we find the reality a disappointment – the splodge on a Jeff Koons, or the tarnish on a Brancusi, never smooth enough, never tall enough, always a bit approximate. But of course an idea is nothing until it can be read, and (not to be too romantic) the flaws are what transforms something from dry to curious, to transformative.

6 From Ideas to production of art – how? And why?
Again – this is something I’m deeply interested in… the process-narrative. For Tell Tale Heart – I built a 22 foot tall pink castle in a neo-gothic Victorian garage in west London near the BBC… its final destination was a faux-natural nature reserve in Kings Cross that was fabricated in the 80s by redirecting water from the Grand Union Canal… so I decided to transport the castle via the canal, on a large concrete based barge, from Ernie Goldfinger’s Trellick Tower, past London Zoo, through Camden Lock to Kings Cross St Pancras – where the new faster Euro-Rail link goes to Euro-Disney in 3 hours and one minute.

7 Could your ideas be portrayed in any other medium? If so which?
Yes. I don’t know yet.

8 Which artists would you most like to blatantly rip off?
Malevich, Tatlin, Gabo, Brancusi, Hepworth,

9 Why is your art made?
To get to the next one. To get it off my chest. To find out what other people think.

10 What does being an artists mean to you?
I don’t know anything else. I suppose lucky to do it – but I think all professions can be amazing – selling Junk Bonds, being a fireman.

11 Are you happy with your reasons for making art? i.e Are there any trade offs that make life hard?
Artists are great – I love hanging out with them.

12 When does your art become successful?
When someone engages with it.

13 What is art?
Art is defined by context – a fragile agreement.

14 How do you start the process of making work?
One thing throws up problems which you want to address in the next thing.

15 Who prices your work? And how is the price decided upon?
The Art market.

16 What is your next; move,project,show etc?
I’m mainly working towards my solo show with Alexia Goethe May-July 2010. And a few other things plotted out… the RBS bursary Show in November, a show in Madrid in Spring, a public work for Sculpture and Object XV in Bratislava 2010, and then a new piece for the Slovakian Embassy in 2011.

17 What are the pros and cons of the art market?
I just think it’s a matter of fact.

18 Which pieces would you like to be remembered for?
None yet – maybe in 20 / 30 years time.

19 Any routine in making your artwork? If so what?
Coffee, coffee, coffee. Cycling through Hyde Park, the V&A, Tate Britain, the Barbican. Coffee coffee coffee. Email. Phone a friend. PV. Coffee.

20 What has been the biggest break in your career?
The Ghost in the Machine, Tate Britain.

21 Who has been the biggest influence on you?
My MA, my peers. Derrida and the fantastic curators I’ve worked with.

22 How many artworks have you given away and to whom?
Many, I have to ask for help a lot – and giving someone some work is rarely sufficient – but a tiny gesture.

More on Nick:www.nickhornby.com

and at the Southbank:www.southbankcentre.co.uk