BOYLE FAMILY §
STUDY OF COBBLES, WITH MUD, STONES AND DEBRIS, LORRY PARK SERIES, 1974
Auction: 14 November 2019 from 13:00 GMT
Description
Signed, inscribed and dated 'Study from the Lorrypark Series, 1974, Joan Hills, Mark Boyle, Boyle Family', mixed media, resin and fibre glass
Dimensions
183.5cm x 183.cm (72.25in x 72.25in)
Footnote
Note:
BOYLE FAMILY
Their collective comprises husband, wife, son and daughter, but beyond being close family members, the Boyle Family are artistic collaborators. This began soon after Mark Boyle, a Glaswegian by birth, and Joan Hills, originally from Edinburgh, met whilst living in Yorkshire in the 1950s. Their children Sebastian and Georgia were exposed to studio life from an early age, ultimately opting to continue the collaboration into adulthood.
Though initially exhibiting under Mark’s name alone, they began representing themselves as ‘Boyle family’ from 1985. Their work was experimental and cross disciplinary from the start, with famous early projects including innovative visual installations in collaboration with musicians like Jimi Hendrix and the Soft Machine. Elements of film and performance continue to play a part in their practise, but it is the Journey to the Surface of Earth series, launched in 1968-69, for which they are best known.
Works from the Earth series are, in the Boyle Family’s own words, ‘three dimensional casts of the surface of the earth which record and document random sites with great accuracy. These works combine real material from the site (stones, dust, twigs etc) with paint and resins, preserving the form of the ground to make unique one-off pieces that suggest and offer new interpretations of the environment.’
Sites were selected on the map by the throw of a dart whilst blindfolded, and the precise patch of ground to be immortalised, narrowed down by the toss of a t-square over the shoulder. Like archaeologists, the Boyles would then focus on that particular section of earth and work meticulously to capture and recreate the site in resin and fibreglass. The full details of their materials, casting technique and how they achieve such accurate representations are a well-kept family secret.
In 1974, they began creating casts in a site near their house in Shepherds Bush, which is now buried under the Westfield Shopping Centre. While trying to gain access to the private site, Mark asked the property owner for permission to take photographs. The owner asked if he was a professional photographer and, seeing no other way in, Mark pretended he was.
In a twist of fate, the site owner was working on a planning enquiry to develop the land into a lorry park. The owner needed photos showing lorries illegally parked in the area at night, therefore showing the demand for a lorry park. These photographs were enough to award the owner planning permission, and he then granted Mark the permission to work on the site.
In his book, Mark Boyle’s Journey to the Surface of the Earth, J.L.Locher recalled the unfettered access, stating
‘This gave us the opportunity to work freely on a wide range of studies, variegated earth, rubble, cracked earth, wet, moist, damp and dry mud, animal and bird footprints, and so on. As time went by these were grouped together as the Lorrypark Series.’
Lyon & Turnbull is delighted to offer a work from this series, titled Study of Cobbles, with Mud, Stones and Debris, Lorry Park Series, 1974. This piece was potentially included in the Serpentine Gallery’s one-man exhibition of Mark Boyle’s work (4 Oct 1975 to 2 Nov 1975), which included artwork from the Earth series.
The family would go on to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1978, and again at the Sao Paulo Biennale in 1987. Their exhibition ‘Beyond Image’ at London’s Hayward Gallery in 1986 attracted 176,000 visitors, and the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, hosted a major retrospective of the family’s work in 2003.
Though Mark Boyle passed away in 2005, the family continues their work. The Boyle Family is represented in many private and public collections with major works in forty museum collections worldwide, including Tate Britain; Stuttgart Staatsgalerie; Los Angeles County Museum; Kunstmuseum Luzern; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum; Museum Moderna Kunst Vienna.