Nature Morte at 89 Greene
Theodore Boyer
May 12 - June 15, 2022
Opening Reception:
May 18, 2022
6:00-8:00pm
89 Greene at signs and symbols* is pleased to present a small but mighty exhibition of the works of LA-based artist Theodore Boyer. The artist was invited by 89 Greene curator Dr. Kathy Battista, who has worked with Boyer on several occasions. Battista notes, “I have followed Theodore Boyer’s work since first discovering it at Shulamit Nazarian Gallery in LA. His use of chance, his interest in mythology and the occult, as well as his indebtedness to the history of art are elements that excite me. I’m excited to introduce his work to a NY audience.”
Self Portrait as a Dead Man (2022) and Dead Manic Monday (2022) are two new paintings made for 89 Greene. They are contemporary interpretations of nature morte: radical self-portraits, meditations on life, death, objects and memories. They harken back to the glorious age of 17th century Dutch still life and, more recently, artists such as Paul Cézanne or Chaim Soutine. While most think of this genre originating in post-Renaissance Europe, there are examples of such scenes found in Pompeiian frescoes and Egyptian burial chambers.
Boyer creates his paintings through various processes. First, he randomly dyes and stains the raw canvases. If one looks closely, it is possible to see sneaker prints as Boyer also walks across the canvas to create texture, inserting a performative element into the work. Next, he paints the scene on top of the canvas, using chance elements and random pigmentation as inspiration. Primarily known for his works in abstraction, Boyer turned to still life and portraiture during the COVID-19 lockdown, when his practice was relegated to a domestic setting.
In Self Portrait as a Dead Man, Boyer depicts a skull, candle, inkwell and books on top of a wooden table. Drawing on motifs from the classical tradition of still life, he inserts the present through the titles of the books, which are also homages to artists that Boyer esteems: Lisa Yuskavage, Ron Nagle and Hilma af Klint. That two of these are women artists is not lost on a feminist art historian. If Boyer is the skull, a classical symbol of memento mori, then perhaps he is projecting his own future aligned with his heroes. His signature TB22 is embedded into the wood motif on the left side of the canvas.
In Dead Manic Monday, the viewer can find traditional elements of classical paintings of this genre: the skull, glass vessel, books and pearls all are typical features in still lifes where one finds a table strewn with objects and food, as if after a party took place. In Dead Manic Monday, the tableau has that look of chaos: the glass vase is overturned, and the umbrella straws are still in the cocktails. A wreath dons the skull, suggesting both ancient civilization and revelry. Eyeglasses perch perilously by the edge of the table, and random sketches are strewn. It is the yang to the yin-like order of Self Portrait as a Dead Man. As the Bangles sang, “It’s just another manic Monday.”
*Please note that all 89 Greene exhibitions are on view at the gallery’s location at 249 East Houston Street; the name of the project is only in reference to Jack Smith's historic address.
theodore boyer (b. 1983, Los Angeles, California) completed his BFA in 2012 at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he studied under renowned artists Jack Whitten, Alice Aycock, Sue Williams and Andrea Belag. Boyer has exhibited his work in solo and two person exhibitions at Sevil Dolmaci Gallery, Istanbul; Shulamit Nazarian, LA; Hilde, LA; and Patrick Painter Inc, LA. Past group exhibitions and benefits include the Museum of Mexico City, MX; The Underground Museum, LA; ICA LA; and Hauser & Wirth. He lives and works in Los Angeles.
Boyer’s painting and sculptural practice navigates a wide range of subjects and materials: a formal examination of identity and belonging. A multimedia merger of motifs offers a vehicle for personal revelations via investigations in cartography, astrology, astronomy, anthropology and mysticism. The artist’s research in science — and pseudoscience — provides a narrative framework for further investigations into color: the grounding focus of Boyer’s oeuvre. Dense pigments permeate the backgrounds of his paintings in saturated rainbow hues. Alchemical spills, stains and splashes dye the canvas, exposing numerous under-paintings visible through various transparencies. Throughout his paintings and sculpture Boyer nods to abstract expressionism, minimalism and psychedelic graphic art of the 20th century and blends those with imagery and subjects from his own history. Born in 1983 — orphaned between the Millennials and Gen X — Boyer’s work reflects that liminal space between the digital and physical planes. In his ongoing series Rainbow Cataclysm, he grapples with the notion of humanity’s connection to, and disconnection from, nature: a return to earth, after the fall, or maybe just before it.
