Clayton Sean Horton
Encyclopedia
Clayton “Sean” Horton is an artist
, graphic designer
, and proponent of other artists and musicians, often in the early stages of their career.
In 2006, Horton opened SUNDAY
, a contemporary art
gallery located in the burgeoning Lower East Side
of New York City
near other galleries such as CANADA, Reena Spaulings, and Rivington Arms
. Since its inception SUNDAY has exhibited an intergenerational group of artists including Gayleen Aiken
, Ed Blackburn, Ronnie Bass, Brian Bress, Peter Gallo
, Joel Gibb
, G.B. Jones, and Asuka Ohsawa – many of whom explore religious culture, regional vernacular
, sexuality
, and semiotics
.
Before opening SUNDAY, Horton organized numerous exhibitions as an independent curator
for galleries, non-profit art spaces, and museums – often focusing on Texas-based artists and nostalgia for regionalism
.http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ci=108&ch=entertainment&sc=finearts&sc2=features&sc3=&id=37 He has contributed exhibition reviews and interviews to several publications including Art New England, Artl!es magazine, Glasstire.com, Sculpture
magazine, and Ten by Ten magazine. In 2004 he co-founded a website focusing on the Boston art scene called Big RED and Shiny, of which he also served as editor
for the first eight issues.
Horton exhibits his own art in various galleries and has been included in group exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
among others. His first solo exhibition Please Don’t Lick the Art at Good / Bad Art Collective in Denton, Texas
consisted of monochromatic panels of brightly colored saltwater taffy that dripped off of the panel onto the walls and floor throughout the opening night. More recent works from Lil’ Paintings Who Could at Allston Skirt Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts consisted of “humble paintings [that merged] high Modernist Color Field
strategies with a folk art
sense of pathos
.” http://ase.tufts.edu/gallery/shows/thesis_NineJanuary04.html Intermittently since 2001, Horton has collaborated with Melissa Mudry as The Snowflake Factory to design packaging and promotional material for musicians and artists including Bosque Brown
, Asthmatic Kitty
, and Ann Craven.
His first involvement in the music industry was as the manager of Sound Source, a used music store in Grand Prairie, Texas
in the mid to late 1990s. The store quickly earned a reputation for its extensive selection of rare and hard to find Christian alternative rock
and Horton began to organize in-store performances with bands including Fine China, Pedro the Lion
, The Prayer Chain
, and Starflyer 59
. Shortly thereafter, Horton founded The Red Crown Red Empire — an independent record label
whose imprint was on the first releases for several bands including Ester Drang
and the, now defunct, The Danes and Within (whose respective members went on to perform with The Earlies
, Micah P. Hinson
, and Scarling.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, graphic designer
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
, and proponent of other artists and musicians, often in the early stages of their career.
In 2006, Horton opened SUNDAY
SUNDAY
SUNDAY is a contemporary art gallery located in the Lower East Side of New York City, USA.The gallery was founded by Clayton Sean Horton in the summer of 2006 and opened its first exhibition on October 6, 2006...
, a contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
gallery located in the burgeoning Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
near other galleries such as CANADA, Reena Spaulings, and Rivington Arms
Rivington Arms
Rivington Arms was an art gallery in New York City.Melissa Bent and Mirabelle Marden founded the gallery as a small storefront on Rivington Street in 2001, part of a new wave of galleries opening in the Lower East Side...
. Since its inception SUNDAY has exhibited an intergenerational group of artists including Gayleen Aiken
Gayleen Aiken
Gayleen Aiken was an artist, musician, and historian who lived most of her life in Barre, Vermont.Gayleen Aiken shared her unique artistic vision with the world through Vermont's Grass Roots Art and Community Effort's exhibition program...
, Ed Blackburn, Ronnie Bass, Brian Bress, Peter Gallo
Peter Gallo
Peter Gallo , Rutland, VT is a reclusive artist and writer who lives in Hyde Park, VT and Montreal, Quebec. Gallo attended Middlebury College and Concordia University in Montreal where he is a doctoral candidate in Art History...
, Joel Gibb
Joel Gibb
Joel Gibb is a Berlin-based Canadian artist and singer-songwriter who leads the "gay church folk" group The Hidden Cameras. He was born in Kincardine, Ontario.-Career:...
, G.B. Jones, and Asuka Ohsawa – many of whom explore religious culture, regional vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
, sexuality
Human sexual behavior
Human sexual activities or human sexual practices or human sexual behavior refers to the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts from time to time, and for a wide variety of reasons...
, and semiotics
Semiotics
Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...
.
Before opening SUNDAY, Horton organized numerous exhibitions as an independent curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
for galleries, non-profit art spaces, and museums – often focusing on Texas-based artists and nostalgia for regionalism
Regionalism (art)
Regionalism is an American realist modern art movement that was popular during the 1930s. The artistic focus was from artists who shunned city life, and rapidly developing technological advances, to create scenes of rural life...
.http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ci=108&ch=entertainment&sc=finearts&sc2=features&sc3=&id=37 He has contributed exhibition reviews and interviews to several publications including Art New England, Artl!es magazine, Glasstire.com, Sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
magazine, and Ten by Ten magazine. In 2004 he co-founded a website focusing on the Boston art scene called Big RED and Shiny, of which he also served as editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
for the first eight issues.
Horton exhibits his own art in various galleries and has been included in group exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
among others. His first solo exhibition Please Don’t Lick the Art at Good / Bad Art Collective in Denton, Texas
Denton, Texas
The city of Denton is the county seat of Denton County, Texas in the United States. Its population was 119,454 according to the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the eleventh largest city in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex...
consisted of monochromatic panels of brightly colored saltwater taffy that dripped off of the panel onto the walls and floor throughout the opening night. More recent works from Lil’ Paintings Who Could at Allston Skirt Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts consisted of “humble paintings [that merged] high Modernist Color Field
Color Field
Color Field painting is a style of abstract painting that emerged in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s. It was inspired by European modernism and closely related to Abstract Expressionism, while many of its notable early proponents were among the pioneering Abstract Expressionists...
strategies with a folk art
Folk art
Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....
sense of pathos
Pathos
Pathos represents an appeal to the audience's emotions. Pathos is a communication technique used most often in rhetoric , and in literature, film and other narrative art....
.” http://ase.tufts.edu/gallery/shows/thesis_NineJanuary04.html Intermittently since 2001, Horton has collaborated with Melissa Mudry as The Snowflake Factory to design packaging and promotional material for musicians and artists including Bosque Brown
Bosque Brown
Bosque Brown is an American indie band from the music town of Denton, Texas.While attending college there, singer-songwriter Mara Lee Miller chose "Bosque Brown" for her music, named after a river that runs through Stephenville, Texas, her childhood home. She recorded a handful of demos and had her...
, Asthmatic Kitty
Asthmatic Kitty
Asthmatic Kitty is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by a community of musicians from Holland, Michigan led by musician Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams. Some were Holland natives, and others had come to attend local colleges and universities...
, and Ann Craven.
His first involvement in the music industry was as the manager of Sound Source, a used music store in Grand Prairie, Texas
Grand Prairie, Texas
Grand Prairie is a city in Dallas, Ellis, and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas and is a part of the Mid-Cities region in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Grand Prairie is a suburb of both Dallas and Fort Worth and had a population of 175,396 at the 2010 census.- History :The city of...
in the mid to late 1990s. The store quickly earned a reputation for its extensive selection of rare and hard to find Christian alternative rock
Christian alternative rock
Christian alternative rock is a form of alternative rock music that is lyrically grounded in a Christian worldview. Some critics have suggested that unlike CCM and older Christian rock, Christian alternative rock generally emphasizes musical style over lyrical content as a defining genre...
and Horton began to organize in-store performances with bands including Fine China, Pedro the Lion
Pedro the Lion
Pedro the Lion was an indie rock band from Seattle, Washington. Singer-songwriter David Bazan formed the band in 1995 and represented its main creative force, backed by a varying rotation of collaborating musicians. T. W. Walsh is considered to be the sole official band member besides Bazan. In...
, The Prayer Chain
The Prayer Chain
The Prayer Chain was a 1990s Christian alternative rock band. The band has been called "the epitome of the Christian underground". The Prayer Chain was known for producing moody, angst-ridden music which was, in turn, the result of creative differences within the band and with their record...
, and Starflyer 59
Starflyer 59
Starflyer 59 is an alternative rock band from Riverside, California that was founded in 1993 by Jason Martin, brother of Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric. While Jason Martin has written nearly all of Starflyer 59's songs, the band has included a number of different musicians over the years, including...
. Shortly thereafter, Horton founded The Red Crown Red Empire — an independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
whose imprint was on the first releases for several bands including Ester Drang
Ester Drang
Ester Drang is an experimental, post rock musical group from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. The band was formed in 1995, with guitarist Bryce Chambers recruiting drummer James McAlister and bass player Kyle Winner....
and the, now defunct, The Danes and Within (whose respective members went on to perform with The Earlies
The Earlies
The Earlies are a band formed by Christian Madden and Giles Hatton from Lancashire, England, and Brandon Carr and John Mark Lapham from the United States...
, Micah P. Hinson
Micah P. Hinson
Micah Paul Hinson is an American americana singer and guitarist and recording artist for Sketchbook Records in the United Kingdom and Jade Tree Records in the United States. His debut album Micah P. Hinson and the Gospel of Progress was released in 2004 to much critical praise...
, and Scarling.
Scarling.
Scarling. is an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles, whose core members are Jessicka and Christian Hejnal-Addams. The band formed in 2002. They have released two albums, Sweet Heart Dealer and So Long, Scarecrow.-Name:...