After a decade spent working in abstraction that mined the metaphysical and cosmological realms, the Los Angeles-based artist Theodore Boyer is reemerging with a new suite of narrative-based figurative paintings for Theodore Boyer: Mystic. Mother. Lover. his solo debut with Praz- Delavallade Los Angeles, opening November 10.
At the start of 2020, Boyer returned to the figure with a series of paintings of his wife, Jamie, captured from memory in domestic settings, from memory or translated from photographs of her in natural environments spanning from Mexico to Morocco. By merging the various dye techniques employed in his previous bodies of abstraction, Boyer renders a psychological (and psychedelic) underpainting—representing a meditative state of the unconscious mind—atop which images emerge. The figures are rendered in high chroma oil and casein which create tension and depth between the two materials. Sections of the paintings allow the viewer to peer into the mystical backgrounds acting as a portal into another dimension.
“Every painting in this show represents personal tragedies I’ve experienced since before the pandemic.” says Boyer. “Looking to my inner self allows me to illustrate these subjects from my unconscious. The show is a celebratory, not mournful, end to a previously tragic era.” As Carl Jung stated: “Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
In Luncheon With the Devil, which leans on references from Manet and Goya, Boyer depicts friends in a blissful picnic while an anthropomorphic ibex looms as a specter of doom. The Visitors offers a celebratory toasting scene between Jamie and an artist friend from Prague, who stands in as a spirit guide arriving in the aftermath of tragedy. Mystic Mother provides a glimpse into a Halloween celebration with Jamie as a witch, or alchemist/ healer, while Mother Lover isolates Jamie in a body of water as an Aphrodite figure. Finally, a trio of floral still-life paintings—I’m Sorry; Get Well Soon; and Congratulations—offer subliminal messages cycling through the process of apology via imagery on the classical planters holding the arrangements. These three works mark times of tragedy, remorse, and redemption and act as a coda to this heady dream sequence.
“I’m never in the paintings, just as I’m never a figure in my dreams,” explains Boyer. “I’m really just a voyeur in the reality of this world.”
In March of 2019 My home in LA went up in flames in the middle of the night. My wife and I escaped unscathed, but the damage was devastating. Books, art, clothing, furniture, photographs, camera equipment, was either destroyed or completely damaged. As challenging as it was, this period forced me to consider my own mortality, and inspired me to create this installation. During the two weeks I had to prepare for the exhibition, I was able to transform an abandoned house in the desert into a representation of my memories and experience of the fire.
I created seven Portal paintings, each representing a color of the chakras. I Used a torch to recreate a burned out portion of the wall, and had the ceiling partially removed. I built a door to the back room that was boarded up, only revealing what was inside through a peep hole. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s final work “Étant donnés”, I created my own version with foliage found in the desert, and a female figure sculpted in grout, foam and semi-precious stones. I titled the Installation “Happy” as the last thing remaining in my scorched house was the birthday balloons which spelled out the word. I used bright white LED lights to illuminate the space and painted the outside of the building in a gradient that represents the desert sunrise.
Photo Courtesy Alex Welsh for The New York Times
Exhibition: June 2nd – July 7th, 2018
Patrick Painter Inc. is pleased to present Big Rip, a solo exhibition featuring artworks by Theodore Boyer.
Born in Seal Beach, California in 1983, Los Angeles-based Theodore Boyer attended Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (Zurich University of the Arts) in 2011 and graduated from the School of Visual Arts, New York with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2012.
Boyer is intrigued by the many concepts that shape the universe, and of it’s eventual demise, and replicates these theories in his Pollock-esc application of bleach on dyed linen. Two of these theories comprise the opposing forces of contraction or of expansion. The Big Crunch theorizes that as the universe loses the energy needed for its initial expansion, it will contract, falling in on itself. Close to the singularity the warpage of space-time could become so chaotic that they would shatter into droplets of matter. The Big Rip however theorizes that the universe could just continue to expand, until galaxies, stars, and eventually atoms and particles themselves would be torn apart, and as the universe runs down, time itself would lose all meaning.
Boyer’s works are reminiscent of satellite imagery, and he derives much of his visual inspiration from his personal surroundings, scientific journals, and images generated by NASA. His process points to the influence of rapidly changing technology and how this new technology enables us to visualize the cosmos. Just as Kandinsky’s paintings aspire to replicate the patterns found in music, so Boyer’s artwork is influenced by the mathematical patterns found in the universe, and of what futures might lie out in the void of space.
Aleph and the Rock
We are telling you the story quickly before you leave the rock. It’ll be short and one of the last things you remember, The Human Story. There are many versions you could have been told, but this is the one you need to know. After some time, we woke up in the mud and leaves. It took a minute to stand up. Things were confusing for a while but our eyes began making shapes out of the colors, our nose could discern shit; we heard the cry of the others. When we opened the big hole in our head, a long deep wail confirmed we existed. Back then, our origins were a mystery, though now we know.
While we waited to leave the rock we worked. Giant civilizations came and went. From life until death, we augmented the rocks, boiled the metal, and trained the light. Generation after generation we built under edicts of truth, knowledge, and vision. We know now what they really meant.
In those days, we divided everything into the seen and unseen. As we expanded with the rest of the universe, we built systems to translate our experience. Not all of them worked, largely due to a long-term case of mistaken identity. However, many successful attempts led us to more than one functioning system, although we were not prepared to use the technology. The process was slow, meticulous, and often self-destructive.
The Aleph is our first and most eternal system. It is the primordial “1” which contains all letters and numbers. It sequences itself through a nebulous of synchronistic systems and communicates in every language. As you travel across the Aleph, notice how it cradles everything, tearing through the silent void.
It is time to move on now. We wish you a safe and positive journey on your departure. Please remember to leave all of your belongings behind. Welcome all Trans-Alephian Citizens.
HL Helphenstein
Theodore Boyer, Phillip Maisel, and Fay Ray, Seattle Art Fair, 2017
Theodore Boyer, Sarah Meyohas, and May Wilson, Art Los Angeles Contemporary, 2017
