Artist, Writer, Dandy
Born 8 August, 1962; Died 17 June, 2010.
Sebastian Horsley, who has been found dead of a suspected heroin overdose in his Soho flat aged forty-seven, was the epitome of self-constructed dandyism , high on whatever was going. As a some time artist and writer, and full time sexual adventurer, drug addict and gentleman of leisure, Horsley left his mark in Edinburgh, London and the Phillipines, where he paid to be crucified, the ultimate in self-deification. But beyond the flamboyant attention-seeking front, there lay a deep-rooted vulnerability and a self-loathing that suggested a pain that went far beyond the physical.
Horsley was born in Yorkshire, the second child of Valerie Edwards and Nicholas Horsley, chairman of Northern Foods, founded by Horsley’s grand-father Alec Horsley. According to Horsley’s ‘unauthorised autobiography’, Dandy In The Underworld, named after a Marc Bolan song, Horsley witnessed his two alcoholic parents at a range close enough to acquire an addictive personality of his own.
Horsley failed to be accepted into Edinburgh University, but made his mark in other ways, striking up friendships with crucial figures on the city’s nascent post-punk music scene. In 1981, Horsley sang lead vocals on Uncle Sam/Portrait of Heart, the second single released on Allan Campbell’s Rational Records under former Josef K singer Paul Haig’s Rhythm of Life banner, and on which Haig and drummer David Graham provided the musical backing.
After marrying Evelynn Smith, the daughter of a Scottish painter and decorator, Horsley became involved in the Gateway Exchange, the high-profile Edinburgh centre for recovering drug addicts founded by ex gangster turned artist and cause celebre, Jimmy Boyle. Horsley imported champagne with Boyle, and in Dandy In The Underworld claimed that both he and Smith had affairs with him. In 1990 Horsley and Smith separated, and Horsley gravitated back to London, where he proselytised his use of drugs and prostitutes while becoming a succesful artist.
In the late 1990s, a painting by Horsley appeared as part of a group show at Edinburgh’s City Art Centre, where the opening was visited by Horsley’s friend Nick Cave. The two had first encountered each other after Horsley attempted a liaison with Cave’s then girlfriend.
Horsley gained global recognition in 2000, when he travelled to the Phillipines to become the first white westerner to take part in a crucifiction ceremony. His self-inflicted ordeal, which he paid for, was filmed by artist Sarah Lucas. As nails were hammered into his hands, Horsely passed out, the foot rest of the cross broke, and he fell off the cross.
Horsley settled in Soho, where he held court among a network that included the late writer Willie Donaldson, aka Henry Root, and former Page 3 girl Rachel Garley, with whom Horsley became lovers. Photographs of Horsley posed beneath his collection of skulls show him as a pseudo-Dickensian rake with wild hair beneath a top hat and extravagant tails, or else courting devilish outrage in a scarlet diamente suit.
In the years leading up to the publication of Dandy In The Underworld, Horsley became a columnist in the Erotic Review, as well as for the Observer, who fired him following a column on anal sex that appeared on Easter Sunday.
Several days prior to his death, a play based on Horsley’s memoirs, also called Dandy In the Underworld, opened at Soho Theatre. Written by Tim Fountain, whose similarly styled stage works on Quentin Crisp and Julie Burchill played to great acclaim in Edinburgh, Dandy In the Underworld presented a version of Horsley that for its subject must have been like staring into a fabulously cracked mirror. If the play ever makes it to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, it will be a suitably dramatic return to the city where Horsley’s awfully big adventure into Dionysian decadence began.
The Herald, June 22nd 2010
ends
Born 8 August, 1962; Died 17 June, 2010.
Sebastian Horsley, who has been found dead of a suspected heroin overdose in his Soho flat aged forty-seven, was the epitome of self-constructed dandyism , high on whatever was going. As a some time artist and writer, and full time sexual adventurer, drug addict and gentleman of leisure, Horsley left his mark in Edinburgh, London and the Phillipines, where he paid to be crucified, the ultimate in self-deification. But beyond the flamboyant attention-seeking front, there lay a deep-rooted vulnerability and a self-loathing that suggested a pain that went far beyond the physical.
Horsley was born in Yorkshire, the second child of Valerie Edwards and Nicholas Horsley, chairman of Northern Foods, founded by Horsley’s grand-father Alec Horsley. According to Horsley’s ‘unauthorised autobiography’, Dandy In The Underworld, named after a Marc Bolan song, Horsley witnessed his two alcoholic parents at a range close enough to acquire an addictive personality of his own.
Horsley failed to be accepted into Edinburgh University, but made his mark in other ways, striking up friendships with crucial figures on the city’s nascent post-punk music scene. In 1981, Horsley sang lead vocals on Uncle Sam/Portrait of Heart, the second single released on Allan Campbell’s Rational Records under former Josef K singer Paul Haig’s Rhythm of Life banner, and on which Haig and drummer David Graham provided the musical backing.
After marrying Evelynn Smith, the daughter of a Scottish painter and decorator, Horsley became involved in the Gateway Exchange, the high-profile Edinburgh centre for recovering drug addicts founded by ex gangster turned artist and cause celebre, Jimmy Boyle. Horsley imported champagne with Boyle, and in Dandy In The Underworld claimed that both he and Smith had affairs with him. In 1990 Horsley and Smith separated, and Horsley gravitated back to London, where he proselytised his use of drugs and prostitutes while becoming a succesful artist.
In the late 1990s, a painting by Horsley appeared as part of a group show at Edinburgh’s City Art Centre, where the opening was visited by Horsley’s friend Nick Cave. The two had first encountered each other after Horsley attempted a liaison with Cave’s then girlfriend.
Horsley gained global recognition in 2000, when he travelled to the Phillipines to become the first white westerner to take part in a crucifiction ceremony. His self-inflicted ordeal, which he paid for, was filmed by artist Sarah Lucas. As nails were hammered into his hands, Horsely passed out, the foot rest of the cross broke, and he fell off the cross.
Horsley settled in Soho, where he held court among a network that included the late writer Willie Donaldson, aka Henry Root, and former Page 3 girl Rachel Garley, with whom Horsley became lovers. Photographs of Horsley posed beneath his collection of skulls show him as a pseudo-Dickensian rake with wild hair beneath a top hat and extravagant tails, or else courting devilish outrage in a scarlet diamente suit.
In the years leading up to the publication of Dandy In The Underworld, Horsley became a columnist in the Erotic Review, as well as for the Observer, who fired him following a column on anal sex that appeared on Easter Sunday.
Several days prior to his death, a play based on Horsley’s memoirs, also called Dandy In the Underworld, opened at Soho Theatre. Written by Tim Fountain, whose similarly styled stage works on Quentin Crisp and Julie Burchill played to great acclaim in Edinburgh, Dandy In the Underworld presented a version of Horsley that for its subject must have been like staring into a fabulously cracked mirror. If the play ever makes it to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, it will be a suitably dramatic return to the city where Horsley’s awfully big adventure into Dionysian decadence began.
The Herald, June 22nd 2010
ends
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