About Artist Richard Boyer

Richard Boyer divides his time between Salt Lake City and Sweden, the native home of his wife Karin. He travels frequently throughout Europe and America -- from the quiet waterways of Amsterdam and rolling hills of Provence to the jagged peaks of the American Rocky Mountains -- always searching for new locations and intriguing subject matter. His landscapes draw on the traditional approach to oil paintings, but are contrasted by a richer textural quality.

Awards and Honors Arts for the Parks honored Boyer with the Grand Canyon Purchase Award in 2005 for Journey Through the Canyon , a purchase award in 2004 from the Grand Teton Natural History Association for Sunday Fishing at the Snake River and the Marine Art Award in 2003 for Approaching the Confluence .

Boyer also received the Judge's Choice Award in the Arts for the Parks competition for both the 2000 and 2001 competitions and two of his paintings were among the top 100 selected in the 1999 competition.

Boyer was the subject of a full length feature article -- "Lingering to Catch the Light" -- in the Salt Lake Tribune on May 27, 2006.

Boyer was featured in the Jan. '06 issue of "International Artist Magazine", with one of his paintings (Skagen, Denmark) gracing the cover.

Boyer's work has been displayed in the "Oil Painters of America" show several times and was featured on the cover of "American Artist, December 2004" and in the August 1999 issue of "Southwest Art" as an "Artist to Watch".

Boyer has also received the "Art Times Award" from the Salmagundi Club in New York and the Stobart Foundation Award at the Twenty-third Annual Mystic International.

Background Boyer began painting at an early age, first showing his work while still attending high school in Williamsville, New York. He has continued to develop his interest ever since. Boyer graduated from the University of Utah, where for five years he studied portrait and figurative painting under "Alvin Gittins". Gittins' ability to render the figure so accurately, intrigues and influences Boyer to this day.

After earning his B.F.A. in 1981, Richard's wanderlust took him to Germany, where he studied languages at the Universitaet Kiel. With Kiel as a home base, he utilized the opportunity to travel throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In 1984, he left Kiel for the faster lifestyle of West Berlin, which provided a rich backdrop for experimentation in his painting style. There he lived the bohemian life with other German artists, painting the harsh reality of a city trapped behind the iron curtain.