words//shaun oppedisano
Noel Sinclair Boyt is a visual artist, skateboarder, and a great friend. When we first met, Noel was visiting Boston during the reign of Coliseum. We didn’t get to hang around for too long, but we have been in touch for many years. I knew Noel first for his skating–the kind of creative style you can see in his video parts are easily reflective of the personality in his artistic pieces. All things considered, anything Noel’s involved in creating is worth checking out.
What was your favorite part about growing up in Denver?
Of course I have the most cliché answer…just meeting good people and seeing weird shit. It mostly all revolves around the Denver skatepark and the individuals and madness that ensue on that one giant slab of pink concrete. When I was growing up skateboarding was still kind of lame and Denver skatepark was one of the first places where I saw other skateboarders not taking any shit from anyone. You name it, it’s gone down there; the stabbings, drive bys, curb stompings, people getting pushed backwards into 12 foot bowls, just insane violence. One gentleman got pushed off the bridge into the rocks and died in front of all these kids. Another fellow was shanked and then pushed into a bowl in the middle of the night where he later died. What I’m getting at is I think people would come down there with a notion in their heads of what skateboarders were at the time and it would get thrown out the fucking window. That is one of the worst places in the country to start shit with any skateboarder because it’s pretty much a wolf pack mentality, you’re going to get 30 dudes deep staring at you waiting to pounce.
Do you think skateboarding is a direct influence on any of your artwork?
Most definitely…it has been the single most consistent passion in my life other than drawing since forever. Not to mention that the role of other “skateboard artists” in my life has been beyond significant. Stylistically artists like Michael Sieben, Todd Bratrud, Evan Hecox, Mark “Fos” Foster, French and so many others influenced me. They all skate and I skate so when we draw or paint or do whatever, our shit is going to show through…our shit is skateboarding. Personally the direct influence is the comedic nature of the individuals who actually skate…the jokes, the sarcasm, the heinous stories…all of it gets worked in some how and everybody can relate.
Describe The Denver Shop and its extended family.
The Denver Shop is far beyond what most would consider a normal skateboard store. It has long since been a institution that defies contemporary definition, does not cater to trends or numbers and focuses it’s core energy on one thing; team. The progression and emphasis on team has been carefully fine tuned under a single roof by a single owner for this past decade. This fine tuned body runs on the loyalty, personality and work ethic of many men who have dedicated their lives to something much greater than a skate shop. This is a home, with a family, where every member of that family plays an integral role in the productivity, legacy, and aesthetic of what comes in and out of its doors. To this family skateboarding is more than just a way to make a living; it’s a way of life that goes beneath lifestyle, over expression and around obsession.
What is your favorite medium to work in?
My favorite would have to be good old-fashioned drawing with archival ink pens on paper, but with that being said that’s just what I’ve done the longest and probably feel the most comfortable with. These days everything is my favorite though, all that mixed media jazz that’s so hot on the streets/internet.
Tell me a really good Grant Willing story.
Fuck, this is really hard… Grant has been my best friend since the seventh grade and so much absolutely insane shit has happened to him since then. He’s a relatively quiet fellow who really doesn’t have to say much and truthfully that is why all of the wild stuff that happens to him is so funny. His reactions are very unnatural. Most people would verbally or physically react to seeing fucked up shit, but Grant just stands there and observes. One time his Mom was out of town so a neighborhood family friend invited him over for dinner. When the woman opened the door she was completely nude…I think he said something amazing like “I’m not really that hungry but thanks anyway.” Another time he was house sitting for one of his neighbors, some rich bachelor or something and after feeding the guys cat he wandered the house. If my memory serves me correctly he found all of this S&M type gear with like gas masks and dildos and shit. I rode the bus home with him one day and he took me over there…it was truly a weird scene. This is the kind of shit that happens to quiet people on a daily basis from what I’ve gathered. Grant is the best, I miss shooting guns and drinking Mountain Dew with him.
What do you think of this BP oil spill? Do you think they’ll ultimately make a lot of money over fucking up real good?
So yeah…that guy at Purdue analyzed the videotape of the spill using particle image velocimetry or whatever and estimated oil flow rates at between 56,000 to 84,000 barrels per day, which is equivalent to one Exxon Valdez spill every 3.5 to 2.4 days! I mean shit, this is why I don’t have a television anymore, I just see the world and I frown more than I laugh. Yay for humanity and yay for money!
You live in Seattle now, right? Tell me what drove you to make this move and what your favorite part has been so far.
My girlfriend is originally from here and we were just tired of the long distance relationship thing, so after she lived with me in Denver for a bit we moved here. My favorite part has been just being a little bit closer to the water, no full on beach action or anything but just sitting around and watching the ferries and boats. Other than that it’s just the same shit different toilet.
Collaboration between Noel Boyt and Corey Smith.
I noticed a lot of the pieces you’ve shown me seem to be making a deliberate statement, as opposed to just being mimetic or “cool to look at.” How important is it to you for people to interpret a message from your artwork?
I guess I could care less if anyone interprets anything from the work, but then again it’s not like I’m painting an elderly woman who has the face of a reptile and the lower body of a robot and titling it “Beer Pong A.D.” I’m not thinking of curve balls I can throw or inside jokes that only I can laugh at…I want to make inside jokes that everyone can laugh at.
What are you working on now and do you have plans to show work in a gallery any time soon?
As of late it’s been all over the place. I’ll start one project and then jump to another and another and so on. Recently I’ve been shooting a lot of photos with my 35mm, just a bunch of photos of human feces in very public urban areas…like on park benches and bus seats where poop doesn’t belong. The band AMORT allowed me to design their discography a while ago and hopefully that will get pressed soon. I’m finally finishing this zine that I’ve been working on for months called “SON OF A BITCH MOTHER FUCKER” which deals with people who committed suicide in my hometown of Castle Rock. ACTUAL PAIN and myself are working on a shirt and a limited print that will both be printed with cow blood mixed in with the ink. As far as showing in galleries is concerned Corey Smith and I are having a two-man show in Los Angeles sometime in the next five months. Knowing him it will probably be under a freeway somewhere. Hopefully Grant Willing will let me take over the Rotating Gallery in Brooklyn again later this summer too. Other than that I’m just living the American nightmare.
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To see more of Noel’s work, some great interviews, and other great content, go check out his website.
