Untitled Construction (Junk Piece - Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory...)
About this artwork
In 1961 Mark Boyle observed that the brushes, paint tins and lids which stuck to his palette were more interesting than the paintings he was making: this led to collage and assemblage work, which he and artist Joan Hills made together. The earliest of their constructions incorporated material scavenged on the streets of London, which the couple took back to their flat. These ‘junk reliefs’ featured in their first solo exhibition, which opened in London in 1963, before travelling to Edinburgh. It was the inaugural show at Richard Demarco’s art gallery at the new Traverse Theatre, and this was the largest work included. The photograph behind the bicycle wheel is of the French poet Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867). The artificial flowers refer to his collection of poems Les Fleurs du Mal (1857).
Published September 2022
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artists:
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title:Untitled Construction (Junk Piece - Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory...)
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date created:1963
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materials:Mixed media assemblage on wood
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object type:
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credit line:Long loan in 1988
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accession number:GML 367
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gallery:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Mark Boyle
Mark Boyle
Mark Boyle (1934–2005) was born in Glasgow. During the 1960s he collaborated with his partner Joan Hills (1931–2024) in making assemblages of junk and found objects, before moving on to produce replicas of sections of the Earth. Their project Journey to the Surface of the Earth was...