This is what happens when you hand an art punk his grandfather’s leather tools, and the deep desire to honor a legacy runs into the heady compulsion to put it all through the shredder and see what comes out the other side. Since 2009 self-taught artist Scott Horn has been driven to reinvent leatherwork for the 21st century, using his grandfather’s tools to make one-of-a-kind visual art and apparel. His work pairs dense, intricate patterning with rich illustrations of subjects ranging from anatomical diagrams to highway overpasses, BBQ platters to Renaissance Grotesques. The representations chosen vary widely but share a wry awareness of the medium itself, and the history of art and traditional western leatherwork.
Scott has a BFA in theater design from the University of Kansas, and began his artistic practice in 2006 exploring sculpture and site-specific installation as well as curating art shows in non-traditional spaces. In 2010 his focus shifted to leatherwork, and in 2020 he relocated to Santa Fe and foundedThe Unsaddled, an heirloom-quality collection of leather apparel and accessories incorporating his distinct visual style.
