The Visitors Expressionist Figurative Painting by Artist Theodore Boyer

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Theodore Boyers, The Visitors (II) 2022 - Original Artwork

74 x 66 Inches

Oil, Oil Pastel, Casein and Dye on … Read more Theodore Boyers, The Visitors (II) 2022 - Original Artwork

74 x 66 Inches

Oil, Oil Pastel, Casein and Dye on Canvas.

About The Artist:

Have you ever had a dream that is so vivid it felt real? Did you remember flying, falling, pulling your tooth out, envisioning a large animal, or familiar face? Maybe someone lead you somewhere, or gave you something- like a book or a key. We try to decipher the messages, but most of us have a difficult time understanding what it’s about. It possibly means nothing, or perhaps our unconscious mind has the ability to communicate from another dimension. Most people have such experiences and they forget about them as consciousness slips in and the hands of linear time continue to turn.

C.G. Jung believed that the concept of the collective unconscious helped to shape the similar themes that are found in mythological stories around the world. My current body of work is an attempt to create my own myth, by using visions from my unconscious mind. I paint family and friends whom I feel a deep connection to, giving each figure a life of its own, filling the space with symbolic objects, and anthropomorphic animals.

A decade ago, My art began with abstract investigations in cartography, astrology, astronomy, anthropology and mysticism. Figurative painting, has allowed me to connect with my subjects by directly filtering images through my mind to the canvas. The environments that my characters inhabit are only separated by a thin veil, or portal that leads to this bizarre alternate reality. Vivid hues of casein, and oil paint layered on the canvases invoke a dreamlike multidimensional world, while seemingly defying the rules of perspective, space and time.

Each picture begins with a dyed foundation achieved with alchemical spills, stains and splashes. This initial abstract painting creates the ground to build a “cosmic space” which objects emerge from. Multiple layers of casein are applied on top of the dye, and the oil painted figures- faces, hands, feet and other objects seem to pop off of the surface of the canvas.

BIO

A Southern California Native who has lived traveled and studied around the globe, I’ve spent a majority of my life studying the natural world and observing the people I surround myself with. During my time in New York City, from 2006-16 I have accumulated thousands of polaroid’s and film contact sheets that inspire many of the figures and objects in my paintings.

In 2011 I moved to Zurich to study at the ZhDK, and came back to New York to graduate from the School of Visual Arts. After exhibiting in Los Angeles with Shulamit Nazarian in 2017 I participated in several residencies in Upstate New York, and Kerala, India. In 2021 I was invited by gallerist Sevil Dolmaci to come to Istanbul, and create artwork for an upcoming exhibition in 2022. The same year I was invited as an artist in residence to Elounda Island Villa on the island of Crete. I have developed several artistic techniques from my experiences abroad that are paramount to my studio practice today.

Beginning in 2009 at SVA New York, I studied painting under Jack Whitten, Dennis Kardon, Andrea Belag, Sue Williams and Nancy Chunn. Through my mentors guidance and personal experience, my artistic oeuvre combines many styles and mediums. The saturated protein based pigments I use come from the alchemical paint making techniques first discovered in ancient cave paintings dating back at least 30,000 years. I have personally visited some of these sites. See less