Travis Boyer

Travis Canada Boyer (born 1979) is an American contemporary artist based in New York City. He is known for working across painting, sculpture, textiles, performance, and educational workshops. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at the New Museum, High Museum of Art, Van Gogh Museum, and Beaux-Arts de Paris. His work is held in the collections of the National Museum of Norway, Colby College Museum of Art, and Portland Museum of Art (Maine).

Early life and education Boyer was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1979. He attended Saint Louis University in Madrid from 1998 to 2000. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of North Texas in 2003 and a Master of Fine Arts from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts Bard College in 2012.

Career Boyer began exhibiting in the mid-2000s, with exhibitions in the United States and internationally. His practice has included painting, textiles, sculpture, performance, and collaborative projects.

In 2006, Boyer presented Mil Siluetas at John Connelly Gallery in New York with photographer Donnie Cervantes under the name "Donnie and Travis." Boyer and Cervantes then co-curated Flex Your Textiles with Ginger Brooks Takahashi, an exhibition featuring more than 50 artists working with fiber and textiles.

From 2007 to 2015, Boyer presented Indigo Girls, a recurring indigo dye workshop and performance at venues including SculptureCenter, deCordova Museum, the Rhode Island School of Design, Yale University, High Desert Test Sites, Confort Moderne, and Stavanger Art Museum.

From 2009 to 2011, Boyer curated and produced Travis Boyer's MFT (My Favorite Things), a series of textile and fashion projects with NYC boutique JF&Son involving artists including Amy Yao, Ulrike Müller,and K8 Hardy.

In 2012, The New Yorker reviewed Boyer's exhibition Today in Me at Johannes Vogt Gallery.

Boyer presented Ahora y Nunca at Signal Gallery in Brooklyn in 2017. The exhibition incorporated sculpture, photography, textiles, and archival material and explored an alternative history in which Selena remained alive. The exhibition was reviewed by Artforum and Artsy.

Between 2018 and 2023, Boyer exhibited paintings on silk velvet depicting mushrooms at galleries including False Flag, The Valley, and Noon Projects. One of these works is installed at The Carlyle Hote in New York.

In 2025, Boyer presented Personal Effects, a group of 18 velvet paintings, at Galerie Peter Kilchmann in Zurich. The accompanying publication included essays by Tabitha Love and Susanna Cole.

The National Museum of Norway acquired Michael the Acrobat, a dyed-velvet work on an aluminum panel depicting writer and editor Michael Bullock, in 2026.

Selected exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Crocking off the Bloom, Participant Inc., New York (2012) Today in Me, Johannes Vogt Gallery, New York (2012) Precious Burns, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam (2013) Velours, Johannes Vogt Gallery, New York (2014) Ahora y Nunca, Signal Gallery, Brooklyn (2017) Amongus, False Flag, Queens (2019) Free Makeovers, False Flag, Queens (2021) MTWTFSS, Noon Projects, Los Angeles (2023) Two-ness, Peter Kilchmann, Paris (2024) Personal Effects, Peter Kilchmann, Zurich (2025)

Group exhibitions

Outside The Lines, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (2013) Girls on a Spiral Jetty, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (2015) Transmission, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille|Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris (2015) Emerging Artist Exhibition, Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens (2016) Pupture, New Museum, New York (2016) Visionary Painting, Colby College Museum of Art, curated by Alex Katz (2017) Tainted Love, Villa Arson, Nice (2019) In Place of an Index, Texas Biennial, Houston (2021)

Publications

Outside The Lines, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (2014) ISBN: ‎1933619465 Transmission, Recreation et Repetition, Sarina Basta (2015) ISBN: ‎2840564769 A Arte Dos Cogumelos / The Art of Mushrooms, Francesca Gavin (2022) ISBN: 9789727394074 Travis Boyer: Personal Effects, Galerie Peter Kilchmann (2025)

Reference