Nick Hornby – Zygotes and Confessions

Zygotes and Confessions is a new publication devoted to the work of London-based artist Nick Hornby, and has been produced to accompany his first solo exhibition in a public gallery. The exhibition, which shares its title with the publication, is presented at MOSTYN, Wales, UK, from November 2020 to April 2021.

Hornby is known for his monumental site-specific works that combine digital software with traditional materials such as bronze, steel, granite, and marble. In this publication he presents a substantial new body of smaller, more intimate work comprising three discrete yet interrelated series of works inspired by the history of sculptural busts, modernist abstractions, and mantelpiece ceramic dogs. United by glossy photographic surfaces created by means of an industrial process in which his sculptures are dipped into liquid photographs, these new works explore themes of portraiture, the body, identity, sexuality, and intimacy in the digital era. A number of the works have been made in collaboration with fashion photographer Louie Banks.

Along with a foreword by Helen Boyd, Head of Marketing and Publisher Relations at the Casemate Group, the publication features a text by MOSTYN director Alfredo Cramerotti and an essay by London-based publisher, editor, and writer Matt Price. The texts are presented in both English and Welsh. Newly commissioned studio photography of the works by Ben Westoby, along with installation views of the exhibition commissioned by MOSTYN from Mark Blower, illustrate the publication, which has been designed by Joe Gilmore / Qubik. The publication is co-published by MOSTYN, Wales, UK, and Anomie Publishing, London, and distributed internationally by Casemate Art, a division of the Casemate Group.