Interview with the artist. Nicola Smith interviews Michael Horsnall

What compels you to make art Michael?

I have this inner compulsion to allow the beauty and ecstasy of life to pour through me. I like the process of poetics and part of me just likes to have fun!

How do you go about starting a new piece of work?

I have this inner urge that keeps me turning stuff over. If I don't actively allow that force it makes me unhappy-it seems to have its own dynamic. I've always been doing outdoor artwork, poetry and painting though spasmodically. Being here at university has allowed me to become more prolific and productive-it also allows me to call myself an artist. Three years ago I dreamed of being an artist and now I just call myself one.

Do you tend to do a lot of Artist research before you make a piece?

I've had an interest in art from an early age so having such a large mental history of artwork means I can just look at something and know what resonates within me. When I come to do things, when I look at artists to see if they strike a chord within me-I'm really searching for fellow travellers..if they strike a chord then I'll discover more about them..Art for me isn't just about ideas, though I am interested in what other people think; what critics think- I'm only really interested in what passes through me.

I see you work in various different mediums-painting, outdoor installation. Do you see these as seperate themes as well as different mediums?

To me its all the same thing! I would call myself a landscape painter; I paint inner landscapes and I work in the landscape itself. Different levels of me engage in different aspects though. There is a light hearted enquiring level to my process and then there's the underlying roots where the visceral, primal and spiritual are engaged. I just have this underlying impulse-I thought that being here (university) would allow me to vent it but it just gets bigger! If I have a tiny idea, if it comes from that creative centre then it will expand-if a seed is planted properly then it will grow-I just go round watering seeds!

I can see that your work takes Religion as an underlying theme. What is it that you want to convey?

I have a mystical drive myself and I look for it in other artists- Beuys, Rothko,Kiefer they all have that same sense of being. I like to put a sense of delight into my work-Gods delight in the world-hence the huge expression,the large scale outoor pieces. The religious aspect comes from my own being. I applied to come to university here after the creative experience of an 8 day silent retreat along the line of Ignatius of Loyola-he was strongly interested in the link between spirituality and imagination. I find it difficult to deal with distractions and sidetracks from this theme-some work can be serendipitous of course-most is in fact- but what I need is to stick to my main train of thought.

How do you find creating artwork now that you have the university at your disposal?

This(studio) space is where I say "This is my thumbprint" Only now I can call this stuff art. Most men have their sheds at the end of the garden, I have mine here! Although I paint here, my outdoor installations are what I love. I have a strong impulse to get away, to get out and do something when I'm stuck in here..I'm like a yacht with a big sail but a very heavy anchor-this is part of my anchor, here. A few other good things about being at University are that I get the legitimating use of a student card, an adequate studio space, and I get to call myself an artist!

You title every piece of Art you make-How important is titling to you?

Labelling is key to my work and part of it. labelling refers to my other pastime which is poetry and emphasises that what I'm doing is fundamentally about poetics. Also that we are here partly just playing the gallery game of something being art if it is called art-so I call things art by naming them. This means that I can definitely call my readymade stuff art- to call it art though I must have first personally understood the process and the frame of reference-The way the gallery sanctifies objects as art is really interesting.
I also like to tell stories and parables, weaving religious symbolism into my art. When I label something I label its significance for myself as well as indicating significance to the viewer-its the same as poetry, will the word hold its meaning?

You seem to work on a large scale, both in your paintings and outdoor installations-why is that?

Theres a 'big' streak in me! Ever since I was a child I've been wanting to make things. There's an odd imbalance in me; I often try to confine myself, make myself small, because I don't have confidence in myself. But it never works! Instead of confining myself and my work to a small scale I have realised I need to make things big. The bigger a thing you do, the more people can take pleasure from it...I like interacting with ordinary people at the level of joy and and creativity that is in them..I believe in life giving, life affirming..its all of us together you know.

When you interact with the general public do they usually enjoy your work or do you get a lot of criticism?

I'm a lot happier talking with passers by than I am sitting in seminars! (The people have no expectations I guess!) I'm not put off by any bad criticsm because when something sings for me I know it will for others-usually my outdoor work intrigues people-I guess if they all hated it then I'd pack it in!...Seminars and tutorials are not often enjoyable experiences for me. I tend to get defensive and I don't like explaining my work. In fact I find it rather stupid and disrespectful of people to demand of me why I have made something -or what a piece of work 'means' I don't think there is an answer to "what does it mean?" the question is stupid. On the other hand sometimes seminars can give useful insights.

What do you want your viewers to take away with them?

Simple pleasure and amusement mainly-I'm interested in what gives or brings life! Work expresses my being and if I do the work I can sleep at night. This means I make art because I need to. But the work isn't the important part but often an attempt to articulate the beauty thats inside a person..so when you are struck by the beauty of a line of silver flags across the land that beauty is inside you-its from you not from the work. Thats why I like talking with passers by-I can see the beauty in them.