Mark
Boyle born 1934 in Glasgow, died 2005 in London
Joan Hills born 1931 in Edinburgh
Sebastian Boyle born 1962 in London
Georgia Boyle born 1963 in London
Boyle Family live and work in London
Chronology
Major exhibitions and events by Mark Boyle, Joan Hills and Boyle Family
are in bold.
1931
Joan Hills (née Little) born, Edinburgh.
1934
Mark Boyle born, Glasgow.
1948 - 1949
Hills continued her painting from school days to student years, but
studied Building, Construction and Structural Mechanics at the Heriot
Watt College in Chambers Street, Edinburgh.
1950
Hills enrolled in architecture course at Edinburgh College of Art.
1951
Hills married, taking her husband's name, and left Edinburgh College
of Art; moved to Suffolk where her husband worked.
1952
Mark Boyle enrolled at the University of Glasgow, studying Law. Developed
an interest in poetry.
Cameron Hills born.
1953
Boyle left University and joined the army. Initially with the Scots
Guards; later he moved to Northern Command Headquarters, outside Harrogate,
where he organised supplies for the Ordnance Corps. He continued writing
poetry.
1956
Joan Hills separated from her husband. Moved back to Edinburgh and then
on to Harrogate, with her son, Cameron.
1957
April: Boyle and Hills met in Harrogate. They moved in together in the
summer. Borrowing Hills's paints Boyle starts painting.
1959
Boyle and Hills sold their first paintings to a local collector in Harrogate.
1960
In the spring, Boyle and Hills lived in Paris for three months, then
settled in London, staying in Regent Park Terrace, and towards the end
of the year moved to Hanson Street, near the Post Office Tower.
Boyle and Hills began working at Jasper's Restaurant behind the Royal
Court Theatre, London
1961
Boyle and Hills made their first assemblages, fixing paint tins, brushes,
lids and paint onto home-made wooden palettes.
Moved to 114 Queensgate, west London.
1962
March: Sebastian Boyle born.
First projection experiments
1963
Woodstock Gallery, London
Erections, Constructions & Assemblages by Mark Boyle (29
July - 17 August)
Traverse Art Gallery, Edinburgh
Erections, Constructions & Assemblages by Mark Boyle (20
August - early September)
August: Boyle gave a poetry reading with Spike Hawkins and Ted Milton
behind Jim Haynes's bookshop, Edinburgh.
In Memory of Big Ed
7 September: event at the McEwan Hall, Edinburgh on the last day of
the International Drama Conference as part of the Edinburgh Festival.
Boyle and Hills collaboration with Ken Dewey, Charles Lewson and Charles
Marowitz.
Event for Judge, Jury and Prisoner
at the Bar
Event conceived in response to
the threat of Boyle being prosecuted for obscenity following the appearance of
a nude model in In Memory of Big Ed (never performed).
Citizen's Theatre, Glasgow
Erections, Constructions & Assemblages by Mark Boyle ,
Traverse Art Gallery exhibition toured by Scottish Arts Council (September).
Ledlanet Nights: Painting, Sculpture and Things by Living Scottish
Artists , group exhibition at John Calder's mansion near Edinburgh,
other exhibitors included William Gear, Ian Hamilton Finlay and Alexander
Trocchi. (20 September - 1 October).
October: Georgia Boyle born.
Wanting to incorporate film into their events Hills worked part time
with film editor Julia Wolf and then the Mithras film company, 1963-64.
Mithras subsequently became David Naden Associates, where Hills continued
to work part time until 1967.
Three poems by Boyle were published in Paris Review , no.39,
winter / spring 1963 issue.
1964
Constrasts , a mixed exhibition including Moore, Hepworth and
others, at McRoberts & Tunnard Gallery, London.
Exit Music
Event which began at Strand Electric Theatre, London and continued by
bus at various locations. A collaboration with Ken Dewey and Charles
Marowitz. Boyle and Hills constructed a maze out of abandoned doors on
a demolition site in Olaf Street, near Shepherds Bush, London.
Bags
Event performed as part of the International Festival of Happenings,
organised by Jean Jaques Lebel, at Denison Hall, London, (8 June).
Exhibition of International Contemporary Art , Traverse Art
Gallery, Edinburgh (16 August - 5 September)
Traverse Art Gallery, Edinburgh
Mark Boyle Assemblages, exhibition of 20 constructions in boxes
(October).
First random earth studies, on a demolition site at Norland Road, Shepherd's
Bush, London
First presentation of physical and chemical reactions projected through
light projectors.
Suddenly Last Supper
Event coinciding with the eviction of Boyle Family from their flat at
114 Queensgate, London .
Moved to 7a Lansdowne House, Lansdowne Road, near Holland Park Underground
Station.
Street
Event in Pottery Lane, Notting Hill, London.
1965
Began using resins in earth studies, with Shepherd's Bush Series ,
including street studies, sites beside the Thames at Hammersmith Reach
and the demolition sites at Norland Road and Olaf Street, Shepherd's
Bush.
Oh What a Lovely Whore
11 May, event at ICA London
Any Play or No Play
7 September, event at Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London.
Boyle taught part time at Watford School of Art for one year
Moved from Lansdowne House to a flat in Advance House, Ladbroke Grove
1966
Dig
6 February, Shepherd's Bush, London, event organised by Boyle and Hills
under the auspices of The Institute of Contemporary Archaeology. There
was a second Dig the next day in Watford and material from both Digs
was exhibited at their new flat at 225 Holland Park Avenue. This flat
was above a bank, since demolished, to make way for the Shepherd's Bush
roundabout
May-June: First Beach and Mudcracks Studies, Camber
Indica Gallery, London
('Presentation by Mark Boyle' 16 July - early August)
Son et Lumière
for Earth, Air, Fire and Water
August, first performance at Jeanetta Cochrane Theatre, London
Son et Lumière
for Insects, Reptiles and Water Creatures
First performed on 1 September as the opening event of the Destruction
in Art Symposium (DIAS) at Jeanetta Cochrane Theatre, London
30 September: burning slide projection as part of final day of DIAS,
Mercury Theatre, London
October: article by Jasia Reichardt 'On Chance and Mark Boyle' in Studio
International.
November: formed the Sensual Laboratory, which included Mark Boyle,
Joan Hills, Cameron Hills, Des Bonner, John Claxton and other friends
and acquaintances who helped on film, slide and light projects.
Institute of Contemporary Archeology, London
Here Today, exhibition at Boyle and Hills flat of Shepherd's Bush studies
and material from Dig
23 December: Boyle and Hills / Sensual Laboratory performed Son
et Lumière for Earth, Air, Fire and Water at UFO club,
London and are then asked to provide light environments for Soft Machine
for the first time, which they continued to do at UFO and other venues
in London, Britain and Europe throughout 1967
1967
Bluecoat Society of Arts, Liverpool
(Exhibition 10-28 January and performance of two events:
Son et Lumière for Earth, Air, Fire and Water (10 January)
and
Son et Lumière for Bodily Fluids and Functions (first
performed 11 January)
Bristol Art Centre
Exhibition and performance of Son
et Lumière for Earth,
Air, Fire and Water (10 February)
Son et Lumière for Bodily Fluids and Functions and
other projection pieces, Jeanetta Cochrane Theatre, London (March)
14-Hour Technicolour Dream, Alexandra Palace, London (29 April). All-night
group event to raise funds for International Times. Collaboration with
Soft Machine.
Festival Sur la Plage de Saint-Aygulf, France: provided light environments
for Soft Machine in geodisc dome designed by Kieth Albarn.(1-5 July)
Festival of Free Theatre, Cogolin, France, organized by Jean Jaques
Lebel, Boyle and Hills collaborate with Soft Machine to provide overture
for Picasso play Desire Caught by the Tail (two weeks early August)
Lullaby for Catatonics
Edinburgh Festival collaboration with Soft Machine and Graziella Martinez,
(1 September) later performed at Toulon Festival, Paris Biennale and
in Holland). Also collaborate with Soft Machine to provide sound and
light show for Traverse Players production of Ubu in Chains at the Festival
Cinquième Biennale des Jeunes , Musée d'Art Moderne
de la Ville de Paris (28 September - 3 November). Prize for painting.
Son et Lumière for Bodily Fluids and Functions , Roundhouse,
London.
Premio Lissone, Milan. Prize for Painting.
Studies Towards an Experiment into the Structure of Dreams
Sensual Laboratory and Graziella Martinez performance at the
Arts Lab, Drury Lane, London, runs for 70 performances
The Beard, John Arden play at the Royal Court Theatre, London. Boyle
and Hills provide light environment for overture
Began London Series - 100 random studies of London
1968
Zagreb International Exhibition - Prize for Painting
January-April: toured USA with Jimi Hendrix and Soft Machine, producing
light environments for Soft Machine. (Approximately 50 performances).
22 March: produced light environment for opening of the new ICA at Nash
House, The Mall, London.
Arts Lab., London, collaboration with George Brecht, Cornelius Cardew
and John Tilbury.
August: began random selection of sites for the World Series (Journey
to the Surface of the Earth)
1969
January: Moved from 225 Holland Park to 75 Addison Road, London.
ICA, London
Journey to the Surface of the Earth: An Exhibition to Launch and
Earthprope by Mark Boyle, The Sensual Laboratory and The Institute
of Contemporary Archaeology ( 3 June - 20 July). Exhibition included
various earth pieces from the London series; a sensearound 360 degree
projected environment and the World map for the final random selections
of the one thousand for the World Series, Journey to the Surface of
the Earth.
Body Work
Event at the ICA, London.
Taste / Sight and Smell / Taste
Events at ICA, London.
24 June: Soft Machine played a concert at the ICA inside Boyle / Hills
/ Sensual Laboratory projected environment
Began work on Requiem for an Unknown Citizen (performed 1971)
Joan Hills began making Seeds for a Random Garden (conceived in 1966)
Made Sand, Wind and Tide Series ( Tidal Series) at Camber
Sands (1-7 November). Boyle and Hills and the family stayed at Camber
working on the Tidal series through November and then made the Snow
Series on Camber Beach
1970
Gemeentemuseum, The Hague
Journey to the Surface of the Earth (16 May - 12 July).
Soft Machine played a concert at the opening of the exhibition with
Boyle / Hills / Sensual Laboratory projections
Made first of the World Series works, near The Hague.
ICA, London
Exhibition of the Sand, Wind and Tide Series
Bela Centre, Copenhagen.
Second World Series work, Nyord in Denmark.
Began Multi Human Being Studies.
1971
Henie-Onstad
Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Oslo.
27 February Soft Machine concert at the Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter with
Boyle / Hills projections
27 March
Boyle and Hills collaborate with Soft Machine for the last
time at a concert at the Deutschlandhalle in Berlin as part of a British
art, music and theatre festival
Akademie der Kunst, Berlin.The same festival
was also to include a major presentation of Boyle / Hills earth pieces
and events with the premiere of Requiem for an Unknown Citizen featuring
full performances of the three Son et Lumieres: Earth, Air, Fire and
Water; Insects, Reptiles & Water Creatures; and Bodily
Fluids & Functions. Boyle & Hills closed the show on the first
night when no help is given to hang the exhibition and visitors at
opening walk on works.
Paul Maenz Gallery, Cologne
Requiem for an Unknown Citizen
Hastily arranged premiere after Berlin debacle for two performances
by the Sensual Laboratory at the De Lantaren Theatre, Rotterdam.
Began the Rock Series, Mull, Scotland
1972
Paul Maenz Gallery, Cologne
British Thing ,
Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden,
Oslo (23 September - 15 October)
Made four separate World Series works in Norway
Thaw Series, Norway
Urban refuse-fire project, London
1973
Kelvinhall, Glasgow
Mark Boyle: Journey to the Surface of the Earth (17-30 June)
McRobert Art Centre, Stirling
Gallery Muller, Stuttgart.
Magic and Strong Medicine, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Skin Series . Continuation of the Body pieces begun in 1966
and Body Works of 1969. They are cytograms made of randomly selected
parts of Boyle's body.
1974
Began Lorrypark Series , London.
Bergheim, Germany, World Series project
Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, centenary exhibition
Paul Maenz Gallery, Cologne
Art as Thought Process (Arts Council of Great Britain Collection),
Serpentine Gallery, London
Moved to Red Lion House, Chiswick Mall, London
Paul Maenz Gallery,
Cologne
Mark Boyle: Erdproben aus 'London Study'(14 December - 5 January
1975)
1975
Serpentine Gallery, London
Mark Boyle: Journey to the Surface of the Earth (Continued) ( 4
October - 2 November).
British Art Mid '70s , Frankfurt and Leverkusen
From Britain '70s , Helsinki
Project 3 - Body and Soul , Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
1976
Arte Inglese Oggi 1960-76 , Palazzo Reale, Milan
Recent British Art , British Council Touring Exhibition to
Greece, Yugoslavia, Austria, Iran, Poland, Scandinavia and Portugal
Liverpool Series
Concrete Pavement Series
Red Causeway Series
Breakers Yard Series
Red Wall Series
1977
Photographs - Works at Felicity Samuel Gallery, London (31
January - 4 March)
Real Life , Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
English Contemporary Art , City Art Gallery, Bregenz, Austria.
Felicity Samuel Gallery, London
(17 October - 2 December)
Rock and Scree Series
Railway Series
1978
Sardinian World Series project
British Pavilion, XXXIX Venice Biennale
Kunstmuseum, Lucerne
Mark Boyle und Joan Hills' Reise um die Welt / Mark Boyle and Joan
Hills' Journey to the Surface of the Earth (5 November - 6 December).
First exhibition as 'Mark Boyle and Joan Hills'.
Began Swiss World Series project
Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Hovikodden, Oslo
Kulturhuset, Stockholm
Painters in Parallel , Edinburgh College of Art (16 August - 9
September)
Arts Council of Great Britain Collection Acquisitions, Hayward Gallery,
London.
1979
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk
Mark Boyle: at Opdage Virkeligheden (3 March - 29 April).
Museum Am Ostwall, Dortmund
Studies of Cliffs and Desert Terrain, Central Australian Desert.
1980
Kunstmuseum, Lucerne
Mark Boyle und Joan Hills' Reise um die Welt 3: Schweizer Serie
/ Mark Boyle and Joan Hills' Journey to the Surface of the Earth 3:
The Swiss Site
Adelaide Festival, Adelaide
Journey to the Surface of the Earth: Australia , Contemporary
Arts Society Gallery (7-29 March)
Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
Richard Hines Gallery, Seattle, Washington
British Art 1940-80: The Arts Council of Great Britain Collection,
Hayward Gallery, London
From Object to Object, Arts Council of Great Britain Touring Exhibition.
1981
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington.
Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport, California.
Approaches to Landscape , Tate Gallery, London
Toyama Museum, Toyama, Japan (Inaugural Exhibition).
1982
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Mass.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
Aspects of British Art , British Council Tour of Japan to Tokyo
Metropolitan Art Museum, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Utsunomiya,
The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Fukuoka Art Museum, Hokkaido Museum
of Modern Art.
Worked in Japan on projects in Toyama, Oya and Iwaki prefectures
1983
Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo
1984
Moved to Hillside House, Crooms Hill, Greenwich, London
1985
Exhibition Dialogue , Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation,
Lisbon.
Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Oslo
Boyle Family Archives, September. First exhibition as Boyle Family
A Notional Gallery, London
A warehouse exhibition near the Tate Gallery
1986
Between Object & Image, British Contemporary Sculpture ,
Palacio de Velazquez, Madrid; toured to Barcelona and Bilbao
Forty years of Modern Art, 1945-1985 , Tate Gallery, London
Studies of the Nude , Marlborough Fine Art, London
Cornerhouse Art Centre, Manchester
Hayward Gallery, London
Beyond Image: Boyle Family (1 November - 25 January 1987)
Broken Path Series
Began Westminster Series and first Chalk Cliff studies
1987
British Art in the 20th Century, Royal Academy London toured
to Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart
Southampton City Art Gallery
Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum
Museum of Modern Art, Oxford
Museum Sztuki, Lødz
and the BWR Gallery, Sopot, Gdansk, Poland
XIX Bienal de Sao Paulo, Brazil
(2 October - 13
December)
Gardner Centre, Brighton
Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
Turske & Turske
Gallery, Zurich
Turske & Whitney
Gallery, Los Angeles
1988
Paco Imperial, Rio de Janeiro
Galerie Lelong, Paris.
Experience of Landscape , Arts Council of Great Britain touring
exhibition
Modern British Sculpture , Tate Gallery, Liverpool
British Contemporary Sculpture , Musée des Beaux-Arts,
Le Havre and tour.
Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago
Highland Shore project in Scotland
Hiroshima project
1989
Turske & Turske Gallery, Zurich
Terra Firma, Columbia University Gallery, New York.
Fire Series, London
1990
Friedman-Guinness Gallery, Frankfurt
Gisborne, New Zealand World Series project
Kyushu, Japan World Series project
Began the Japan Series working in Nagasaki, Fukuoka, Saga, Kagoshima,
Miyazaki and Kumamoto prefectures
Auckland City Art Gallery, New Zealand
(11
September - 28
October)
Glasgow's Great British Art Exhibition , McLellan Galleries,
Glasgow
Team Spirit , Neuberger Museum, New York and tour.
Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo
Boyle Family: Japan Series (16 October - 10 November)
New York project
1991
Docklands Series, London
Runkle-Hue Williams Gallery, London
Docklands Series (31 May - 5 July)
1992
The Negev Desert, Israel World Series project
1993
The Sixties Art Scene in London , Barbican Art Gallery, London.
Began the Barra, Scotland World Series project
1994
Georgia Boyle moves to St Stephen's Gardens
1996
Spirit and Place, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
1997
Boyle and Hills design and build Christmas House in Greenwich
Reflection Studies project begun by Sebastian Boyle
1998
Compton Verney Art Museum
Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object 1949 - 1979, MOCA
Los Angeles and tour to MAK Vienna, Museu d'art Contemporani de Barcelona,
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
Transistors, Hashimoto Museum of Art, Morioka, Japan and Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
In Our Time, Bayley Art Museum, Virginia
1999
Sebastian Boyle opens a Boyle Family project space, construction, at his house in London
construction, London
construction, Edinburgh
Collaboration Art, Possibilities of Joint Production, Fukushima Prefectural
Museum of Art
Relic/ Reliquary, Institute for Modern and Contemporary Art, Calgary
2000
Boyle Family: a documentary directed by Georgia Boyle and Fran Robertson
for the BBC and the Scottish Arts Council
construction, London.
Live in Your Head, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London toured
to Museu do Chiado Lisbon
Beside the Sea, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.
Began Barcelona project from the World Series
Sebastian Boyle and E-Sinn Soong marry in New York
2001
construction, London
Les Annees Pop,
Centre Pompidou, Paris (Beyond Image film)
2002
construction, London
Markers, McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, Ontario
Blast to Freeze British Art in the 20 th Century, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
toured to Les Abattoirs, Toulouse (2003)
Began random sound study of London
2003
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Boyle Family (14 August - 9 November)
2004
Art & the 60's, This was Tomorrow, Tate Britain, London
Akureyri Art Museum, Iceland
Boyle Family: Journey to the Surface of the Earth (continued), (28 August
- 24 October)
(toured to Hafnarborg Museum, Hafnarfjordur, 13 November - 6 December
2004)
The Centre of Attention, London
The London Sound Study (online exhibition 1 October - 7 November)
construction, London
Boyle Family, Early Projections (1 October - 7 November)
2005
Visual Music, MoCA LA (13 February - 22 May) and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture
Garden, Washington (23 June - 11 September)
Controlled, Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery (16 May - 25 June)
Summer of Love, Tate Liverpool ( 27 May - 25 September) and Schirn Kunsthalle
Frankfurt ( 2 November - 2 February 2006)
Teaming, the Embassy, Edinburgh (6 August - 4 September)
Boyle Family live and work in London
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