Reynolds Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of In Awe, a solo exhibition of paintings by Hampton Boyer. The exhibition opens on Friday, September 6, 2024 at our Main Street location with a public reception from 5 – 7 pm. Boyer will give an artist talk on Thursday, October 10 at 6 pm. The show runs through October 25.
For his first solo show at Reynolds Gallery, Boyer presents In Awe. In this exhibition, Boyer, presents his signature bright, vibrant compositional style of flat colors and collage, as well as a new chapter of artwork that explores and diverges from his established approach. For certain pieces, Boyer pushes towards a more process-based and abstract practice that incorporates rope, plaster, sanding, and squeegeeing. Inspired by the artist Jack Whitten, Boyer dives into creating work that challenges the standard thinking of what medium, color and composition can entail. In his collages inspired by African folklore, literature, and his own life experiences, Boyer’s technique demonstrates this challenge as he takes apart his artwork, then puts it back together utilizing the previous painting and additional outside materials. Boyer paints and stitches all of the elements together to create the final, multi-dimensional piece. With In Awe, Boyer shows an exciting new series that exhibits creative evolution and movement towards his ever present goal of reaching his audience through a multitude of media.
A word from the Artist
In Awe, feels like a shift for me as an artist. A form of excitement and unease that feels surreal and beneficial. I wanted to reintroduce color to myself, while utilizing intuition to document the present moment. Creating space for catharsis through movement and pigment. Depicting the air of the day, and or simply building color to reflect upon the output.
Collage and flat colors have been present in my artwork through most of my career. It provides a certain form of decision making that leads to the next step. The application of color, while thinking of relativity allows me to handle the medium with intrigue.
In 2021, I was given a Jack Whitten: Notes from the Woodshed, by my friend and contemporary artist Mahari Chabwera. Becoming familiar with Jack Whitten, and his approach, had a massive effect on my thought towards color, medium, and composition. During the time of learning about his process of creating slab paintings, I began thinking about creating a substrate from the unorthodox practice. That year I made a study of creating a substrate or surface created from rope. Coiling rope, then applying plaster and heavy bodied acrylic I was able to achieve a form that operates as a surface to which I could work from. I also found myself using it as a texture, by squeegeeing acrylic or sanding directly onto the coil.
Additionally that year, I focused on placing color within the body of paper and muslin. Allowing color to be placed inside of the surface to either take part of the painting, or give depth to the edges of the work. Both of these techniques, although using the hand to complete the tasks, creates gestures that weren’t of a brush stroke or mark. The result of combining these ideas through collage, creates another level of process and definition.
This experimental year of medium brought forward the palette for In Awe. I wanted this body of work to feel like an exhale from a figurative painter. Crossing techniques learned from painting abstraction yields new forms of application because, as an artist I always find it important to convey my ideas to reach the viewer on multiple planes. My intention is to have concepts that continue to reverberate, and hold conversation and wonder with those who encounter the work. Embodying the beauty in the world. An approach to be a medium for everyday landscape. Daydreams, moments and abstractions elevating the thesis into process and color.
About the Artist
Born in Pittsburgh and raised in Hampton Roads, Hampton Boyer layers bright, geometric forms to create his figurative paintings and collages. He juxtaposes inspiration pulled from African folklore and literature with his own experience as a contemporary artist. The flow that he achieves through his artistic practice fills his work with reverberating energy and intimate emotion. He has exhibited in numerous group shows and solo exhibitions, having been a part of shows at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA (2020), Omni Gallery, London (2023), Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, VA (2024), and the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA (2024).
