Jeff Horton is an artist and architect living and working in Little Rock. His paintings are two-dimensional abstractions of a three-dimensional world he invites the viewer to explore. Jeff’s work has been exhibited across the US and is in a number of important corporate collections. More of Jeff’s work can be seen at Michael Warren Contemporary in Denver, Jay Etkin Gallery in Memphis, Boswell Mourot Fine Art in Little Rock, his Instagram, and his website jhoronartist.com.

AAS: Jeff, where are you from originally and what brought you to Arkansas?

JH: I was born in Kansas City, Missouri. When I was eight years old, my father’s job relocated us to Weston, Missouri, a small farming community north of Kansas City. My parents thought it would be a good place to raise a family. While living in the country had its benefits (open space, endless woods to explore and a place to build forts) we remained attached to the city. I always enjoyed art as a kid, painting and drawing from how-to-paint books I received from my grandfather.
I studied architecture at the University of Kansas where I met my wife, Jennifer Herron. After graduating with an architecture degree, we moved to San Francisco searching for careers in architecture. While working, I continued to develop my art taking life drawing sessions at the California College of Arts and Crafts. I was also exploring the environment, photographing and documenting the urban spaces, which would feed into my artwork in the future. When work slowed down, we relocated to Arkansas, Jennifer’s hometown. It was intended to be a temporary move but turned out to be longer. When we moved here in 1992, we found work in local architectural firms. I started taking life drawing/painting classes through the Arkansas Arts Center to stay connected to my art. In 2000, Jennifer and I established Herron Horton Architects. By doing this, it allowed us the freedom to work and raise a family simultaneously.

AAS: Growing up, which do you think developed first, your interest in art or architecture?

JH: Art was my first passion. I always painted and enjoyed drawing as a kid. I wasn’t introduced to architecture until later in high school and college. My family was very supportive of my art as a child, but they were not artists and thought I should pursue a career that would earn a living and I could do my art on the side. My grandfather was an influence. He would give me how-to-paint books and art supplies. He took up painting during his retirement. My father was also an influence. He was always building and making things. He built the house we grew up in, made the cabinets, installed the wiring, tiled the floors, and painted the walls. He really gave me the skills I need to build and gave me the courage to take on projects.
I chose architecture by chance, thinking it would feed my creative interest. I continued painting in a storage shed behind our downtown home and started showing my art in local restaurants in the early 2000’s. It was at this time that I started to develop my abstract work. Before this time my art consisted mainly of figurative work.

AAS: You’ve said your paintings create a sense of disorder, which encourages the viewer to become an active participant in your work. What do you mean by that?

JH: I think for me, the lines that don’t line up create this perspective view and allows the viewer to connect or complete the perspective in their own mind. It’s open ended. I think that’s why I’m so drawn to abstract work. It requires the viewer to discover the work on their own terms. They see many different things in my work, buildings, structures, sky, fields, sailboats. It unfolds the more time you spend viewing it, similar to how I create my artwork, expanding as more paint and lines are added over time.

AAS: Controlling Chaos is a piece with a lot of tension. Maybe it is the appearance of tension wires that does that. But your use of color and darkness at the left seems to give the viewer a way out.

JH: I like to use dark colors as a contrast to the lightness in the paintings. They create the sense of mystery and depth in the painting. Disappearing, recessing. It also allows me to connect the colors in the painting. All my dark colors are referencing an existing color in the painting only really dark, almost black but not quite. It’s interesting you see it as a way out, I’ve always seen it as a way to ground the painting, using the dark colors.

AAS: Tell me about your technique of mixing oil paint with wax.

JH: I started using wax in my paints after visiting with a good friend and mentor, Sammy Peters. He suggested I try this medium and that it might be interesting in my work. It has allowed me to create transparency in the painting layers and gives the paints a matte finish, which I’m attracted to. It has also allowed me to do collage during any stage of my painting process. When I first started developing my abstract paintings, I glued photos onto the blank canvas as a way to start the paintings. I used an acrylic medium to attach the materials which had to happen at the beginning before the oil paint was introduced. With the wax medium I now have an oil based medium to use so the collage can occur at any time.

AAS: You’ve done some very large pieces like 2 Billboards. Tell me about that piece.

JH: I created 2 Billboards from an image from my college days. It was a billboard structure in downtown Kansas City. The structure’s openness and rawness are still intriguing to me. I like to abstract this image because of the angles and the structural lines it naturally creates. It’s a perfect starting point. The scale, using two large canvases to create an oversize diptych helps me distort the image, allowing the painting to take on a life of its own. This painting also has a limited palette of colors, which I sometimes use as a way to explore a few colors in depth, studying their values and limitations.

AAS: You also have some smaller works that are done on sewn canvas. Quiet Action is one of my favorites. It is a less chaotic work at first glance, but its textural details of tone on tone are captivating.

JH: I usually work larger, so smaller pieces are a challenge for me. I want to create the same feeling as the larger works, but I have to use different techniques. In this particular painting, I am using the sewn canvas to give it the detail, texture and lines similar to the larger paintings. I have recently introduced sewing on my canvases. I got the idea from abstract painters that use large tarps sewn together. I thought it could be an interesting way to use the seams of the sewn canvas as lines in the painting. We received a sewing machine from my mother-in-law and it was not being used so I thought I would give it a try. When the sewn canvas is used on this scale, I am able to show the detail of the stitches which makes the painting more interesting. As you get closer the sewing detail appears. It’s almost two different paintings, up close and far away.

AAS: What do you think architecture has taught you about art and vice versa?

JH: I get asked this question a lot. How does your art influence your architecture? I believe my architecture has influenced my art by introducing the perspective and structure to my vocabulary. I really enjoy making art with the freedom from the constraints of architecture, but with the influence of creating space which feels architectural. So, in a way it feels like they both feed on one another. I notice that drawing in my art practice has helped my hand drawing in architecture from a technical standpoint. But art has also shown me patience because painting takes time to develop, and allowing this time for architectural ideas to develop is helpful. Not trying so hard to get to an architectural solution right away, even though the business side is pushing to create quickly has allowed me to be a stronger architectural designer.

AAS: Do you think your abstract style comes from your architectural aesthetic? Or is abstraction a way to free yourself from the confines of practical architecture?

JH: My abstract style is influenced from my love of architecture, but the abstraction in my art is definitely a freeing response to the constraints in architecture. In art I can be free and draw loosely, let the paint drip and be messy. There is no exact connections or scale drawings that I have to make in art and this freedom releases my mind to explore and discover. I love to draw and make lines that span both professions.

AAS: I think one of the first times I saw your work was the 57th Annual Delta Exhibition in 2015. Highline is a wonderful piece. I have walked the High Line in New York City, and this pieces really captures its feel.

JH: Yes. This piece was inspired by a photo that I took while visiting the High Line. I like the perspectives that are created from being on the High Line in the middle of a dense city like New York City. The nature aspect with the elevated parks seeps into the painting with the greens. The perspective blue, purple lines represent the structure that supports the High Line. I have been fortunate to be included in several Delta Exhibits, but the most memorable one was my first Delta the 43rd Delta. It represents a couple important beginnings, my art career when I was trying to find my voice and my family life. The painting, Model in Chair 1, is a nude life drawing that I created from a class session at the Arkansas Art Center. I keep a picture of me and my 2-year-old son taken at the opening of the exhibition on my desk at work. It reminds me how important the balance of family and art is in my life.

AAS: How do you find time to paint?

JH: It is a challenge with all the daily life responsibilities. As my artwork grew in size, I was able to relocate to a studio a few blocks from our house in the Quapaw Quarter. This gave me the space I needed to work on larger paintings. When my father retired he gave me his radial arm saw that he used to build cabinets. I used this saw in the shed behind my house to build my stretcher frames, allowing me the freedom to produce any size canvas I wanted. It’s a trait I still maintain today, building my own canvases. In 2008, Jennifer and I built a new home/office/studio where we currently live and practice. The idea of having all these places in one location was transformative. We had a growing family so working next to the house was perfect to raise kids while keeping the practice going and having a painting studio. We designed the art studio to receive all north light though large windows and roof skylights. I have a routine of getting up early in the morning and painting a few hours before work every day, or most days. It’s difficult to keep up some days, but the consistency really helps me avoid the inevitable creative block. Just show up, do the work and see what happens, no time to dwell on what ifs. I have two shows coming up this fall, one in Denver, Colorado at Michael Warren Contemporary August 16 - September 21. and in Los Angeles, California at Superfine Art Fair, October 13-16th.
I want to thank you for reaching out and interviewing me for the Arkansas Artscene Blog. I really admire the work you do promoting the arts and artists here in Arkansas. I’m amazed by all the talent we have here.