Martin Boyce

° 1967, Hamilton (UK) – lives and works in Glasgow (UK)

Martin Boyce works across a range of media including sculpture, installation and photography as well as wall paintings and fictional text. At the core of his work is an exploration of modernist design and specifically how time has affected our understanding of design objects.

In an early work for example; he deconstructed two modernist objects by the iconic designers Charles and Ray Eames, making the leg splint into a tribal mask and the L-bar into a spear. In works such as this, Boyce compares the culture in which the objects were originally produced, in this case, the optimism surrounding the post-war boom in manufacturing, to their position today as collectable art objects.

Boyce’s interest in modernist design was reinforced when he discovered a photograph of the concrete trees created by the sculptors Joël and Jan Martel for the 1925 Parisian Exhibition of Decorative Arts. This marks the departure point for his recent work. From the Martels’ decidedly cubist-inspired interpretation of nature, Boyce devised his own grid-based vocabulary of geometric shapes that he has since used as a basis for all aspects of his art. He also created his own font of angular letters, which has allowed Boyce to develop his interest in language and narrative.

(courtesy of Generation Scotland)

Martin Boyce – Remembered Skies, 2018, Clore Courtyard Commission at Tate Britain (Photo by Joe Humphrys)

Martin Boyce – Remembered Skies, 2018, Clore Courtyard Commission at Tate Britain

Martin Boyce – Hanging Gardens, installation view at A4 Art Museum, Chengdu, China in 2018

Martin Boyce – No Reflections by (Photo by Gilmar Ribeiro)

Martin Boyce – Turner Prize, installation view at BALTIC, Gateshead in 2012

Martin Boyce exhibited internationally in solo exhibitions organised by Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead; FRAC des Pays de la Loire; Centre d’Art Contemporain, Genève; Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; and Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel. Group exhibitions include Tate Britain, London; K21, Dusseldorf; Sculpture Center, New York; KW, Berlin; Villa Arson, Nice; New Museum, New York; and Moderna Museet, Stockholm.

In 2011 Martin Boyce won the Turner Prize.

Martin Boyce is represented by the following galleries;
click through to discover more of his work.

The Modern Institute, Glasgow

Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

You can also find plenty more information on Martin Boyce and his work on the website of Generation Scotland.