Paul Boston (born 1952) is an Australian artist.

Life and work

Paul Boston was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in 1952. While with at art school he developed an interest in Zen. After graduating, Boston travelled to Japan and South East Asia, where he spent time developing his Zen practice which informs much of his later work. Taking inspiration from

Cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

and

Abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

, Boston has explored the nature of paradox in his paintings and drawings and has shown an interest in the interchangeability of form and space. Taking from his involvement with Zen practice, Boston is interested in creating a sense of the meditation experience for the viewer through his work, something he calls a contemplative presence, showing a careful consideration for tone and a refinement towards the fabrication of forms, whereby his shapes come to mean different things to different people. Boston has produced an impressive body of work that has been shown in solo exhibitions throughout Australia and in group shows in Australia and overseas. He is the recipient of a number of prizes and his work is included in the collections of all major Australian public galleries and a number of important private and corporate collections throughout the world. Boston lived and worked in Melbourne.

Exhibitions

Throughout his 30-year career Boston has held 20 solo shows in Australia and has participated in over 45 group exhibitions in Australia and overseas. Since 1993 he has shown regularly at

Niagara Galleries Niagara Galleries shows contemporary and Modernist Australian art in Richmond, an inner suburb of Melbourne, from a terrace which has been substantially remodelled in a postmodern style. History The gallery was established by Kyneton High Sch ...

and has represented them at the Korea International Art Fair in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and at the Auckland Art Fair in 2007 and 2011. He also participated in the

Melbourne Art Fair The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, colloquially referred to as "Jeff's Shed," is a group of three adjacent buildings next to the Yarra River in South Wharf, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The venues are ow ...

in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2012. Boston has shown extensively across Australia as well as internationally, participating in ''Group Show'' at the David McKee Gallery and ''A Survey of International Painting and Sculpture'' at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York, as well as ''Contemporary Australian Art to China 1988–1989'' which toured from Beijing to Guangzhou. His most recent shows have included the ''Paul Boston Survey Exhibition: 1980–2010'' at Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney and ''Abstraction 10'' at Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne in 2011.

Collections

Boston's work is represented extensively in public and private collections throughout Australia. He features in major state galleries such as the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

Art Gallery of NSW The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

Art Gallery of Western Australia The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...

and

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

South Brisbane South Brisbane is an inner southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , South Brisbane had a population of 7,196 people. Geography The suburb is on the southern bank of the Brisbane River, bounded to the north-west, ...

, as well as regional galleries and corporate, university and private collections across Australia and overseas.

Awards

Boston has won several awards throughout his career, including the National Works on Paper Award, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery in 2004, the John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, National Gallery of Victoria in 1991, and the inaugural Savage Drawing Prize, Melbourne in 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boston, Paul 1942 births Living people Australian artists Draughtsmen