Sebastian Horsley
Encyclopedia
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
artist best known for having undergone a voluntary crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
. Horsley's writing often revolved around his dysfunctional family
Dysfunctional family
A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Children sometimes grow up in such families with the understanding that such an arrangement is...
, his drug addictions, sex, and his reliance on prostitutes.
Background
Horsley was born in HoldernessHolderness
Holderness is an area of the East Riding of Yorkshire, on the east coast of England. An area of rich agricultural land, Holderness was marshland until it was drained in the Middle Ages. Topographically, Holderness has more in common with the Netherlands than other parts of Yorkshire...
in the East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...
. He was the eldest son of Nicholas Horsley, the chairman of Northern Foods
Northern Foods
Northern Foods Ltd is a British food manufacturer headquartered in Leeds, England. It was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. The company was scheduled to merge with Greencore Group in 2011 to form Essenta Foods, the group being...
, founded by Nicholas's father, Alec, from 1970 until the role was assumed by Christopher Haskins. According to Horsley's autobiography, Dandy in the Underworld, his birth name was Marcus, but his mother had decided to change it to Sebastian by the time she had returned from the hospital. His name was officially changed by deed poll
Deed poll
A deed poll is a legal document binding only to a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an active intention...
in 1967.
Horsley had an older sister, a psychotherapist named Ashley, as well as a younger brother, Jason Horsley. His mother, the former Valerie Edwards, was a Welsh typist. After his parents' divorce, Horsley's father married Sabitha Sarkar (married 1975-1987) and Alwyne Law (married 1998). His mother did not remarry but later became known as Valerie Walmsley-Hunter.
As Horsley wrote in his memoirs, following the divorce of his parents in 1975, "Clearly everyone in my life who should have been vertical was horizontal". In an interview she gave to The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
, Horsley's mother admits that her son's childhood was profoundly difficult, saying, "I don't think Nicholas ever went to bed sober and I was always in a fog. Sebastian and my other two children were accidents and, though it seems shocking to admit, I drank all the way through my pregnancies."
In 1983, Horsley married Evelynn Smith (born Evelynn Anne Smith, 8 September 1962 - 18 April 2003), the daughter of a Scottish painter and decorator, and who, together with Meriel Scott, constituted the art and furniture-design company Precious McBane. Horsley and Smith separated in 1990; she died of an aneurysm
Aneurysm
An aneurysm or aneurism is a localized, blood-filled balloon-like bulge in the wall of a blood vessel. Aneurysms can commonly occur in arteries at the base of the brain and an aortic aneurysm occurs in the main artery carrying blood from the left ventricle of the heart...
at age 40.
Horsley lived at 7 Meard Street
Meard Street
Meard Street in a street in Soho, London. It runs roughly East-West , between Wardour Street to the west and Dean Street to the east...
, London, where the sign on the door still reads: "This Is Not A Brothel / There Are No Prostitutes At This Address".
Art and writing
In August 2000 Horsley travelled to the PhilippinesPhilippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
to experience a crucifixion, in order to prepare for a series of paintings on the topic. Refusing pain killers, he was nailed to a cross and passed out. The foot rest broke and he only avoided serious injury by being caught by onlookers. A film and photos of the event, as well as his subsequent paintings of crosses, were exhibited in London in 2002.
In an editorial article in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
in 2004, he described his preference for sex with prostitute
Prostitution in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, prostitution itself is not a crime, but a number of related activities, including soliciting in a public place, kerb crawling, owning a brothel, pimping and pandering, are crimes....
s, writing "What I hate with women generally is the intimacy, the invasion of my innermost space, the slow strangulation of my art." He also stated that he himself had worked as a prostitute
Male prostitution
Male prostitution is the practice of engaging in sexual acts for money. Compared to female sex workers, male sex workers have been far less studied by researchers, and while studies suggest that there are differences between the ways these two groups look at their work, more research is needed.Male...
for a while. He argued that prostitution should not be legalized, as that would take away part of its thrill.
Horsley ran a monthly column in the Erotic Review from 1998 to 2004. In early 2006, Horsley together with Marion McBride began to run a weekly sex advice column in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
. Four months later, after graphic discussions of oral
Oral sex
Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
and anal sex
Anal sex
Anal sex is the sex act in which the penis is inserted into the anus of a sexual partner. The term can also include other sexual acts involving the anus, including pegging, anilingus , fingering, and object insertion.Common misconception describes anal sex as practiced almost exclusively by gay men...
had led to numerous complaints from outraged readers, the column was discontinued.
Horsley, a self-described dandy
Dandy
A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self...
, praised his chosen home of Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
in an article in 2006, though he had grown increasingly unhappy at what he saw as the decline of Soho as a centre of loose morals and bohemian bars, bemoaning the closure of haunts such as the Colony Room. Speaking following the death of the Colony Room's last proprietor Michael Wojas in June 2010, a week before his own death, he told The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
: " The air used to be clean and the sex used to be dirty. Now it is the other way around. Soho has lost its heart."
In September 2007, the Spectrum London
Spectrum London
Spectrum London was a London art gallery which showed contemporary figurative painting, photography and sculpture. It staged Go West, the first commercial West End show of the Stuckists, and a retrospective by Sebastian Horsley...
gallery staged Hookers, Dealers, Tailors, a retrospective by Horsley. The show documented his diving in Australian shark-infested water and copiously ingesting deadly drugs.
His memoir, Dandy in the Underworld, named after the T.Rex album of same name
Dandy in the Underworld
Dandy in the Underworld is the twelfth and final studio album by British rock band T. Rex. It was released on March 11, 1977 and reached a chart peak in the UK of #26. It was the band's highest-charting album since 1974's Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow. After three commercially weak...
(Horsley counted Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...
as one of his idols) was published in the UK by Sceptre in September 2007 and in the USA in March 2008 from Harper Perennial
Harper Perennial
Harper Perennial is a paperback imprint of the publishing house HarperCollins Publishers. Harper Perennial has divisions located in New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney. The imprint is descended from the Perennial Library imprint founded by Harper & Row in 1964...
. In it, he claims to have had an affair with the Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
-turned-artist Jimmy Boyle
Jimmy Boyle (artist)
Jimmy Boyle is a Scottish sculptor, novelist and convicted criminal.In 1967 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of another gangland figure, William "Babs" Rooney...
. Horsley further stated that his late wife, Evelynn, also had an affair with Boyle, who served as best man at the couple's wedding, according to Horsley's mother.
A one-man play, Dandy in the Underworld, written and directed by Tim Fountain
Tim Fountain
Tim Fountain is a British writer.-Life:An only child, Tim Fountain was brought up in a pub in the village of West Ardsley, West Yorkshire, where he lived with his parents and two goats, one of which had only three legs...
opened at the Soho Theatre in London on 15 June 2010, one day prior to Horsley's death. The role of Horsley (the sole character in the play) is performed by Milo Twomey.
U.S. entry denied
Horsley was denied entry into the United States on 19 March 2008, after arriving at Newark AirportNewark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , first named Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport within the city limits of both Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States...
for a book tour. Immigration officers denied his entry claiming issues of moral turpitude
Moral turpitude
Moral turpitude is a legal concept in the United States that refers to "conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals." It appears in U.S. immigration law from the nineteenth century...
. A customs official said that "...travellers who have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude (which includes controlled-substance violations) or admit to previously having a drug addiction are not admissible...". After eight hours of questioning, he was placed on a plane and sent back to London. Horsley had told the Associated Press that he had prepared for the visit; his one concession: removing his nail polish.
Death
Horsley was found dead at his London home on 17 June 2010 of a heroin and cocaineCocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
overdose
Drug overdose
The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced...
. A friend, the journalist Toby Young
Toby Young
Toby Young, MA, FRSA is a British journalist and the author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, the tale of his stint in New York as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine...
, said he believed Horsley's death was an accident: "If it had been suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
Sebastian would not have passed up the opportunity to write a note. It's a tragic loss of life." In an interview in April 2008, Horsley romanticised dying "destitute in the arms of a prostitute," though not immediately dying "if that's alright with you."
His funeral took place on 1 July 2010, at St James's, Piccadilly, and was attended by more than 400 mourners, among them Marc Almond
Marc Almond
Marc Almond is an English singer-songwriter and musician, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell...
and the writer Will Self
Will Self
William Woodard "Will" Self is an English novelist and short story writer. His fictional style is known for being satirical, grotesque, and fantastical. He is a prolific commentator on contemporary British life, with regular appearances on Newsnight and Question Time...
. Horsley's coffin arrived at the church in a horse-drawn hearse. Among those who paid tribute to him were Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
who spoke of his friend's "essential sweetness" and his "brown eyes" that stopped "just short of pleading". The coffin was carried out of the church to the strains of Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...
's "20th Century Boy
20th Century Boy
"20th Century Boy" is a song by T. Rex, written by Marc Bolan. It was released as a single in 1973 and reached #3 in the UK Singles Chart. The song did not feature on an original studio album but was included as a bonus track on a reissue of 1973 album Tanx.It later returned to the UK Top 20 in...
".
At the inquest
Inquest
Inquests in England and Wales are held into sudden and unexplained deaths and also into the circumstances of discovery of a certain class of valuable artefacts known as "treasure trove"...
on 17 August 2010 the Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
Coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
, Dr Paul Knapman
Paul Knapman
Dr Paul Knapman was Her Majesty’s Coroner for the central London Borough of Westminster, from 1980 to 2011. He was made Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London in 2008...
, decided that "[Horsley] was known to have abused drugs and to that extent he has been the author of his own misfortune."
External links
- Sebastian Horsley's Blog
- "Boyle's Boy", a profile of Horsley in The Scotsman, 2007
- Obituary of Nicholas Horsley
- Interview with Valerie (Edwards Horsley) Walmsley-Hunter, The Guardian, 2005
- Article about Horsley and his crucifixion in the Observer, 2002
- Independent books
- 3:AM interview by Sophie ParkinSophie ParkinSophie Parkin is an English writer, artist and actor, born in London in 1961.She was schooled at Frensham Heights Boarding School, then Camborne School of Mines, Pool, nr Redruth, Cornwall...
- Tribute and correspondence by Tony O'NeillTony O'NeillTony O'Neill is a New York-based author. A one time musician with Kenickie , Marc Almond , The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Kelli Ali , O'Neill is also the author of several books including Digging The Vein 2006, Down and Out on Murder Mile 2008 and Sick City 2010.Digging the Vein was a novel...
- Sebastian Horsley's interview 2008, Mudkiss Fanzine
- Sebastian Horsley in Conversation with John Robb on TinCan.TV
- Independent obituary