Sculpture (1504 - 2017): Glyndebourne, Lewes

Nick Hornby’s monumental pieces include fragments inspired by historic art, including works by Michelangelo, Rodin, Brancusi, and Matisse. They aim to create meeting points between digital technologies and the legacies of sculpture and are created through complex processes, involving both high-tech production methods and traditional handcrafted techniques. He works in bronze, marble or resin.

Sculpture set in the landscape around the opera house include the silhouette of a standing man (inspired by Rodin’s The Age of Bronze) that has been shaped into a slender abstract sculpture (inspired by Brancusi’s Bird in Space). While The Present Is Just a Point is on view in Glyndebourne’s famous Organ Room – where the idea for the opera house first came into being. For this work, a reproduction of Michelangelo’s sculpture of David has been extruded to a single point. Standing 9-ft tall and made of marble dust, the famously ideal male form has been stretched almost beyond recognition.

Other works inspired by Michelangelo’s David, God Bird Drone, is situated by Glyndebourne’s lake. It lies against the ground and is visible only from above. Accompanying the sculpture is a video of the work shot from above by a surveillance drone and available to view on YouTube, where you can see the outline of the piece, dropped like a Google pin in the landscape.

Hornby says: “This stunning Jacobean house is powered by a modern wind turbine. It’s an inspiring juxtaposition – the classic geometries of England Renaissance architecture alongside the smooth and curvilinear rotor blades of the turbine. The pieces at Glyndebourne are about art history and narratives, but also, form and engineering.”

Gus Christie, Executive Chairman of Glyndebourne, said: “Hornby is a young sculptor whose interest across art, architecture, and music is expressed in these stunning sculptures.”