About my art
Broadly speaking, I am interested in how we solidify collections of salient moments of our lives into constructs of identity, beliefs, and narratives about ourselves, others, and the world. In my artwork I attempt to distill this interest down to a playful exploration of color, shape, and symbol. I approach each piece like an explorer, constantly trying new techniques and materials, and consciously breaking rules. I work primarily in abstraction and in many ways I'm trying to create my own visual syntax expressing a complex and disorganized unity that holds together as a sort of gestalt in any one moment. Often, I'm as perplexed as the viewer regarding the question of "what is it about?", and I find the urge to generate meaning to lay on top of art a fascinating human tendency. I also understand and accept that my work may not be about anything. It may be a purely visual, sensory, experience, a visual "sound and fury, signifying nothing," if you will. For me it is an expression of something, though I recognize that may have little to do with what it is for the viewer. I am agnostic on the belief that art has to have a stated purpose or message intended by the artist. If I have any intention, it is that my art creates a moment of pause, curiosity, questioning, and even confusion and discomfort. I want viewers to enter the tension between the need to make meaning and embodying an experience.
"If I have any intention, it is that my art creates a moment of pause, curiosity, questioning, and even confusion and discomfort. I want viewers to enter the tension between the need to make meaning and embodying an experience."
About Trish
Trish Boyles is an award-winning, North Carolina-based visual artist whose work incorporates abstract expressionism and urban contemporary styles. Although she began college as an art major, confusing critiques and a growing sense of imposter syndrome led her to drop the major and step away from art for many years. She returned to her practice seriously in 2020, prioritizing her art as a tool for self-discovery. Since then, her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions throughout North Carolina and South Carolina.
Alongside her artistic practice, she holds an MBA and a Ph.D. in Business Administration and runs her own tax and consulting business. Her simultaneous pursuits in visual art and business inform a life practice of balancing intuition with structure, analysis with experimentation, and personal narrative with broader questions of identity and perception.
