Travis Boyer at SIGNAL

Artist: Travis Boyer

Exhibition title: Ahora y Nunca

Venue: SIGNAL, New York, US

Date: June 8 – July 24, 2017

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and SIGNAL, New York

SIGNAL is pleased to present Ahora y Nunca, “now and never,” an exhibition of painting, sculpture, textiles, photography, and historical ephemera by Texas-born artist Travis Boyer, running from June 8th to July 9th, 2017.

Ahora y Nunca begins with a dream of historical discontinuity, presenting works by Boyer that hail from a shadow timeline that has long persisted in the artist’s creative imagination, one that diverges from reality at the death of beloved Tejano pop star Selena Quintanilla in March 1995. The same moment saw the end of the progressive and prosperous Texas Governorship of Ann Richards, in a controversial election loss to neophyte politician George W. Bush, and over the coming years the gradual dissolution of a vision of continental economic solidarity and cultural inclusiveness that had seemed on the verge of manifesting. The artist was 16.

The central works in Ahora y Nunca draw from Boyer’s imagined alternative to these events, an idyllic potentiality that has continually re-emerged to inform the artist’s life and practice. In addition to his recurring belt motif, explored here in painting on silk, another frequent theme of Boyer’s work has been the dreamt-of continuation of Quintanilla’s personal fashion line, Selena Etc. Inc., based out of her Texas salons and boutiques.

At the heart of the exhibition are a set of hand-woven luxury equestrian blankets depicting the signature stage outfits of the singer, produced by the artist in collaboration with the Biidaüü Weaving Collective, with whom he had previously lived and worked in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca. Alongside these are copper-and-silver hand mirrors, fabricated in the Spratling silversmithing workshop of Boyer’s longtime friend and collaborator Violante Juanita Ulrich in Taxco, Guerrero.

These and other original works are presented together with four dresses from Selena Etc. Inc.’s 1996 season, the last in which the singer’s design collaborations with Martin Gomez would appear, displayed on dress forms loaned from the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute.

The remainder of the artist’s extensive archive of clothing, Selena-branded merchandise, catalogues, and collectibles is presented in carefully-styled storage bins, along with further materials recently uncovered from a San Antonio storage unit sealed since 1995, included from the collection of Ulrich.

In Boyer’s conception, these objects are imbued with the living potentiality of an invisible, and better, world. In his words, “Just because things go wrong, that dream doesn’t have to go away. Ambitious objects can hold the energy of a present that should have been, and a future that still could come.”

For Boyer that dream is not a nostalgic one, it exists as physical space and in physical objects: storage units where feelings can be safely hoarded. Each object and artwork is charged with learned skills, friendships, and experiences, waiting to reemerge.

Travis Boyer, Ahora y Nunca, 2017, exhibition view, SIGNAL, New York

Travis Boyer, Days Inn, 2017, Cotton, wool, natural dyes, faux pearls, rhinestones, and sequins Hand-woven in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, with master dyer and weaver Mariano Sosa Martinez at the Centro de Arte Textil Zapoteco BiiDauu, 42” x 42” x 62”

Travis Boyer, Astrodome Hustle, 2017, Cotton, wool, natural dyes, faux pearls, rhinestones, and sequins Hand-woven in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, with master dyer and weaver Mariano Sosa Martinez at the Centro de Arte Textil Zapoteco BiiDauu, 42” x 42” x 96”

Travis Boyer, Rebirth, 2017, Cotton, wool, natural dyes, faux pearls, rhinestones, and sequins Hand-woven in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, with master dyer and weaver Mariano Sosa Martinez at the Centro de Arte Textil Zapoteco BiiDauu, 32” x 28” x 24”

Travis Boyer, Moon Pearls, 2017, Cotton, wool, natural dyes, faux pearls, rhinestones, and sequins Hand-woven in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, with master dyer and weaver Mariano Sosa Martinez at the Centro de Arte Textil Zapoteco Biidauu, 32” x 28” x 24”

Travis Boyer, The Winner Takes It All, 2017, Dye on silk, encaustic, 92” x 82”

Travis Boyer, Conchos From Heaven, 2017, Dye on silk, encaustic, 63” x 80”

Travis Boyer and Sean Slattery, Carnation Bandana, 2004, Framed print from amateur fashion shoot of Travis Boyer original bandana, photographed at Joe T. Garcia’s in Fort Worth, Texas, 2004, 15” x 18.5”

Travis Boyer, Los Angeles Light Box, 2017, Dyed silk on plywood, LED lights, original 35mm film slides, loupe, 75” x 11” x 3”

Travis Boyer, Big Gulp Torchiere, 2017, Glazed stoneware with decals, hand-dyed silk on plywood, lamp and cord, 10” x 11” x 67.5”

Travis Boyer, The Boyer Family Archive of Selena Quintanilla Miscellany, Various Selena Quintanilla branded and Q-Production licensed items, original photography, Selena Etc. Inc. clothing, Dimensions variable

Travis Boyer, Selena Etc. Inc. officewear from 1996 season, Dressforms courtesy Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute

Travis Boyer, Espejos Gemelas, 2017, Silver, copper, tumbaga, mirrors, earrings Handmade at Taller Spratling, Taxco, Guerrero, with Rafael Robles Rodriguez, 20.5” x 15”

Travis Boyer, Original photograph of Selena Etc. Inc. location in Corpus Christi, Texas, 2007, Minilab print, framed, 11.5” x 15”

Travis Boyer, Remastered photograph of Alicia Villareal (date unknown), 2017, Pigment print on archival paper, 23” x 17”

Travis Boyer and Sean Slattery, Fountain at Joe T. Garcia’s, 2004, Framed print from amateur fashion shoot, photographed at Joe T. Garcia’s in Fort Worth, Texas, 2004, 18.5” x 23”

Travis Boyer, Selena Agrees, 2015, Agree shampoo publicity photo, framed in smoked plexiglass, 18” x 23.5”

Travis Boyer, Solique, 2017, Silk velvet and dye on outlet cover, 3” x 5”