Blake Nelson Boyd
Encyclopedia
Blake Nelson Boyd is an American
film actor, comedian, and visual artist who lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana
and London
. Boyd was mentored by Andres Serrano
and Andy Warhol
Factory manager Billy Name
in the 1990s. Boyd's visual art takes many different forms of expression including painting, photography, drawing, sculpture, video and installation.
, Louisiana
, a small town just outside of New Orleans. His mother is an elementary school teacher, who left the family when Boyd was eleven. His father is the owner of a construction company and left Blake to his own devices from his teenage years onward. At the age of sixteen Boyd started to paint, with the ambition of showing professionally, and began his apprenticeship with an established local artist that lasted fourteen and a half years. He dropped out of Memphis College of Art
in 1989 for financial reasons and then apprenticed with a local artist for fourteen years. At twenty-one Blake met his first significant mentor, New York artist Andres Serrano
, who, knowing Blake's appreciation of Andy Warhol, introduced him to Taylor Mead
. This friendship expanded to include other members of the Warhol Factory, including Billy Name
, Ultra Violet, Allen Midgette and Robert Heide.
. This was the first of Boyd's celebrity portraits but, unfortunately, not the beginning of his film career as he intended. In recent years Hollywood has come to Louisiana and Blake has appeared in the short-lived TV series K-Ville
and the feature films Deja Vu, Tribute
and Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (in which he is credited as Mr. Afraid of the Ground Man). Blake is currently in talks with an established actor/writer/comedian about a TV series based upon Blake's childhood, growing up in Slidell, Louisiana.
In the late 1990s Blake created the character Andy Clone, as whom he performed, dressed as Andy Warhol
, in New Orleans, New York City
, and Pittsburgh. The character referenced Andy Warhol creating a robot of himself. Following Warhol's death, The Warhol Foundation did not permit the robot to make appearances feeling that it was too morbid. Blake created Andy Clone to continue Warhol into the 21st century. Billy Name
has claimed that Andy Clone was cloned from one of Andy's wig hairs.
In May 2005 Blake took out a two-page advertisement in 'Art in America
', a personal letter to Matthew Marks. Some critics appreciated it as art, while others missed the point and did not pick up on Boyd's background of performance and comedic commentary.
, 1987, learning from his mentors Andres Serrano
and Billy Name
. His first portraits were taken using the strip photobooth machines and, following the disappearance of the chemical based equipment, he has recently been using with Polaroid
film. This medium has also died out. Historic portraits in these media include Bryan Batt
, Sir Peter Blake, James Carville
, Patricia Clarkson
, Tracey Emin
and Brad Pitt
.
. "Louisiana Cereal" is the first of the series, and has been underway for over two years.
The August 2007 National Geographic magazine cover "New Orleans - Should it rebuild?", along with romanticized devastation themed art collections and a National and International perception that New Orleans was still underwater even two years later, prompted Boyd to undertake a positive art project. "Louisiana Cereal" is a photographic portrait documentary of over two hundred personalities vital to the rebuilding of the region.
Ears since the early 1990s.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film actor, comedian, and visual artist who lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Boyd was mentored by Andres Serrano
Andres Serrano
Andres Serrano is an American photographer and artist who has become notorious through his photos of corpses and his use of feces and bodily fluids in his work, notably his controversial work "Piss Christ", a red-tinged photograph of a crucifix submerged in a glass container of what was purported...
and Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
Factory manager Billy Name
Billy Name
Billy Name, , is an American photographer, filmmaker and lighting designer. He was the archivist of the Warhol Factory, from 1964 to 1970. His brief romance and subsequent friendship with Andy Warhol led to substantial collaboration on Warhol's work, including his films, paintings and sculpture...
in the 1990s. Boyd's visual art takes many different forms of expression including painting, photography, drawing, sculpture, video and installation.
Early life
Boyd was born and raised in SlidellSlidell, Louisiana
Slidell is a city situated on the northeast shore of Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 25,695 at the 2000 census. The Greater Slidell Community has a population of about 90,000...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, a small town just outside of New Orleans. His mother is an elementary school teacher, who left the family when Boyd was eleven. His father is the owner of a construction company and left Blake to his own devices from his teenage years onward. At the age of sixteen Boyd started to paint, with the ambition of showing professionally, and began his apprenticeship with an established local artist that lasted fourteen and a half years. He dropped out of Memphis College of Art
Memphis College of Art
Memphis College of Art, known before 1985 as the Memphis Academy of Arts, is a small, private college of art and design located in Memphis, Tennessee's Overton Park adjacent to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. It offers Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Arts in Art Education...
in 1989 for financial reasons and then apprenticed with a local artist for fourteen years. At twenty-one Blake met his first significant mentor, New York artist Andres Serrano
Andres Serrano
Andres Serrano is an American photographer and artist who has become notorious through his photos of corpses and his use of feces and bodily fluids in his work, notably his controversial work "Piss Christ", a red-tinged photograph of a crucifix submerged in a glass container of what was purported...
, who, knowing Blake's appreciation of Andy Warhol, introduced him to Taylor Mead
Taylor Mead
Taylor Mead is an American writer, actor, and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol's underground films including Tarzan and Jane Regained.....
. This friendship expanded to include other members of the Warhol Factory, including Billy Name
Billy Name
Billy Name, , is an American photographer, filmmaker and lighting designer. He was the archivist of the Warhol Factory, from 1964 to 1970. His brief romance and subsequent friendship with Andy Warhol led to substantial collaboration on Warhol's work, including his films, paintings and sculpture...
, Ultra Violet, Allen Midgette and Robert Heide.
Hollywood
In the summer of his sixteenth year Boyd took the money from his garage sale and flew to Los Angeles to be discovered for film. There he met, and photographed, another of his heroes, Johnny CarsonJohnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
. This was the first of Boyd's celebrity portraits but, unfortunately, not the beginning of his film career as he intended. In recent years Hollywood has come to Louisiana and Blake has appeared in the short-lived TV series K-Ville
K-Ville (TV series)
K-Ville is an American television drama created and executive produced by Jonathan Lisco, centering on policing New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina...
and the feature films Deja Vu, Tribute
Tribute (film)
Tribute is a play by Bernard Slade.The plot focuses on Scottie Templeton, a popular actor who has spent his life shirking responsibility. When he discovers he is terminally ill with leukemia, he attempts to reconnect with his long-estranged son....
and Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (in which he is credited as Mr. Afraid of the Ground Man). Blake is currently in talks with an established actor/writer/comedian about a TV series based upon Blake's childhood, growing up in Slidell, Louisiana.
Performance art
In the mid 1990s, Blake custom made a rabbit head that he wore to events in New Orleans and New York, dressed as a rabbit, inspired by "The Space Bunny", a story he wrote in 1978.In the late 1990s Blake created the character Andy Clone, as whom he performed, dressed as Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, in New Orleans, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and Pittsburgh. The character referenced Andy Warhol creating a robot of himself. Following Warhol's death, The Warhol Foundation did not permit the robot to make appearances feeling that it was too morbid. Blake created Andy Clone to continue Warhol into the 21st century. Billy Name
Billy Name
Billy Name, , is an American photographer, filmmaker and lighting designer. He was the archivist of the Warhol Factory, from 1964 to 1970. His brief romance and subsequent friendship with Andy Warhol led to substantial collaboration on Warhol's work, including his films, paintings and sculpture...
has claimed that Andy Clone was cloned from one of Andy's wig hairs.
In May 2005 Blake took out a two-page advertisement in 'Art in America
Art in America
Art in America is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It is designed for collectors, artists, dealers, art professionals and other...
', a personal letter to Matthew Marks. Some critics appreciated it as art, while others missed the point and did not pick up on Boyd's background of performance and comedic commentary.
Photography
Blake has improved his technique since Johnny CarsonJohnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
, 1987, learning from his mentors Andres Serrano
Andres Serrano
Andres Serrano is an American photographer and artist who has become notorious through his photos of corpses and his use of feces and bodily fluids in his work, notably his controversial work "Piss Christ", a red-tinged photograph of a crucifix submerged in a glass container of what was purported...
and Billy Name
Billy Name
Billy Name, , is an American photographer, filmmaker and lighting designer. He was the archivist of the Warhol Factory, from 1964 to 1970. His brief romance and subsequent friendship with Andy Warhol led to substantial collaboration on Warhol's work, including his films, paintings and sculpture...
. His first portraits were taken using the strip photobooth machines and, following the disappearance of the chemical based equipment, he has recently been using with Polaroid
Instant film
Instant film is a type of photographic film first introduced by Polaroid that is designed to be used in an instant camera...
film. This medium has also died out. Historic portraits in these media include Bryan Batt
Bryan Batt
Bryan Batt is an American actor best known for his role in the AMC series Mad Men as Salvatore Romano, an art director for the Sterling Cooper agency. Primarily a theater actor, he has had a number of starring roles in movies and television as well...
, Sir Peter Blake, James Carville
James Carville
Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...
, Patricia Clarkson
Patricia Clarkson
Patricia Davies Clarkson is an American actress. After studying drama on the East Coast, Clarkson launched her acting career in 1985, and has worked steadily in both film and television. She twice won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in Six Feet Under...
, Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
and Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
.
Recent projects
Blake is working on a trio of documentary photographic projects based upon his home state of Louisiana since Hurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. "Louisiana Cereal" is the first of the series, and has been underway for over two years.
The August 2007 National Geographic magazine cover "New Orleans - Should it rebuild?", along with romanticized devastation themed art collections and a National and International perception that New Orleans was still underwater even two years later, prompted Boyd to undertake a positive art project. "Louisiana Cereal" is a photographic portrait documentary of over two hundred personalities vital to the rebuilding of the region.
Symbolism of Disney in his work
Disney World opened on Blake's first birthday. His grandmother, Frida Boyd was a secretary at Disney World and his two uncles (just a decade or less older than Blake) worked there in their teenage years. Blake visited this personal "mecca" every year until he was a teenager himself. Disney imagery is a recurring theme in Boyd's work. His paintings reinterpret Disney icons and he has been photographing celebrities in Mickey MouseMickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
Ears since the early 1990s.
External links
- Official website
- Jen Bekman Gallery NYC
- Artist's profile at Arthur Roger Gallery, includes examples of work