Anoesis II

John Boyd was born in Carlisle in 1957 and between 1975 and 6 attended Newcastle College of Arts and Technology. From here he went to the Slade School of Art, 1976 – 78, and then on to University of Newcastle, 1978-1980. Boyd has had solo exhibitions all over the world, initially in and around Newcastle, and later internationally, in Cross Gallery, Dublin; Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh; Braggiotti Galleries, Rotterdam; Christopher Hull Gallery, London and Lydon Gallery, Chicago, amongst many others. 

 

Paintings within paintings, words within words, rearrangement of patterns of words and of images and partial images: this is the landscape which Boyd inhabits. His titles are highly original, complex ways into his paintings. He is drawn to foreign titles, particularly in Latin and French. He likes titles that tease, for example, those with ‘Maybe’ tacked on, deliberately withholding while inviting interpretation. Both titles and paintings are highly original. He likes to invite analysis and also to outwit. A playful artist, Boyd enjoys using Victorian pictorial puzzles, words and word games within his titles and paintings. He enjoys playing with hidden faces and meanings, and the viewer’s understanding and misunderstandings of the messages which he sends out. These are paintings about art and about the puzzles experienced by the viewer in trying to understand the messages the artist may or may not be transmitting, and the frustrations and appeal to the artist of being interpreted and ‘understood’.

 

John Boyd’s artist’s statement: ‘Artists should keep their eyes open and their mouths shut,’ shows that he is an enigmatic character who prefers that his paintings speak for him.