ºÚÁÏÉç

Skip navigation

Main menu

  • What's on
  • Art & Artists
    • The Collection
      Artists
      Artworks
      Art by theme
      Media
      Videos
      Podcasts
      Short articles
      Learning
      Schools
      Art Terms
      Tate Research
      Art Making
      Create like an artist
      Kids art activities
      Tate Draw game
  • Visit
  • DISCOVER ART
  • ARTISTS A-Z
  • ARTWORK SEARCH
  • ART BY THEME
  • VIDEOS
  • ART TERMS
  • SCHOOLS
  • TATE KIDS
  • RESEARCH
  • Tate Britain
    Tate Britain Free admission
  • ºÚÁÏÉç
    ºÚÁÏÉç Free admission
  • Tate Liverpool + RIBA North
    Tate Liverpool + RIBA North Free admission
  • Tate St Ives
    Tate St Ives Ticket or membership card required
  • FAMILIES
  • ACCESSIBILITY
  • SCHOOLS
  • PRIVATE TOURS
Tate Logo

Mark Boyle

1934–2005

The Rock and Scree Series (Triptych) 1977
© reserved

Biography

Mark Boyle (11 May 1934 – 4 May 2005) was a Scottish artist born in Glasgow and known for his work in the cultural UK Underground of the 1960s around the Traverse Theatre, and from 1985 exhibited with Joan Hills and their children Sebastian and Georgia as Boyle Family.

Although Boyle Family have worked across a wide range of different media (including painting, photography, sculpture, film, projection, sound recordings and drawing), they are perhaps most well known for their Earth studies. These pictures – highly accurate painted casts that operate somewhere between painting and sculpture – involve the meticulous re-creation of randomly chosen areas of the Earth's surface using resin and fibreglass (as well as real materials collected from the original site) and have been exhibited internationally. Past shows have included the British Pavilion at the XXXIX Venice Biennale in 1978, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston in 1982, Beyond Image - Boyle Family (Hayward Gallery, London) in 1986 and Boyle Family (Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh) - a major retrospective held in 2003.

In addition to developing highly original casting techniques, Mark Boyle and Joan Hills also pioneered the use of liquid light shows during the 1960s. These projections played a seminal role in the development of the counter-culture of the period. The light environments were used to accompany stage performances by such artists as Jimi Hendrix and jazz-rock pioneers Soft Machine.

Amongst others he collaborated with are George Brecht, Peter Schmidt (artist), Cornelius Cardew, and John Tilbury.

This biography is from Wikipedia under an . Spotted a problem? Let us know.

Artworks

  • Holland Park Avenue Study

    Mark Boyle
    1967
  • The Rock and Scree Series (Triptych)

    Mark Boyle
    1977
Artwork
Close

Join in

Sign up to emails

Sign up to emails

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google and apply.

°Õ²¹³Ù±ð’s privacy policy

About

  • About us
  • Our collection
  • Terms and copyright
  • Governance
  • ARTIST ROOMS
  • Tate Kids

Support

  • ºÚÁÏÉç
  • Patrons
  • Donate
  • Corporate
  • Press
  • Jobs
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Contact
© The Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery, 2025
All rights reserved