A room without a painted ceiling is like a world without a sky

September 26, 2018 11:55 AM

Larry Boyce knocked on the door of San Francisco's Old First Presbyterian Church, explaining that he had AIDS and wanted to do some painting in exchange for a place to stay. First Presbyterian put aside its apprehension and opened its doors to Larry Boyce, sending him and the entire congregation on a spiritual and artistic odyssey (S.F. Gate, 1996). Before that, in the spring of 1989, Boyce was in Tucson, AZ, where he offered to decorate the lobby of the Congress Hotel in exchange for a place to park his bike, and he did (Google street view). In 1988, itinerant ceiling painter had arrived in NYC (NYT, 1988). Larry Boyce was an energetic, optimistic cross-country bicyclist and the late 20th-century’s greatest champion of the stenciled frieze (Collector's Weekly, Sept. 7, 2018).
posted by filthy light thief (19 comments total)

Sadly, There's not a lot on Larry Boyce online, beyond that really nice Collector's Weekly article, but even that doesn't have many photos of his art.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:10 PM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

.







I'm not crying at work, nope. Someone must be cutting onions in the office.
posted by domo at 12:22 PM on September 26, 2018

The last link, with the Today Show clip, was my favorite. He just seemed to have such an amazing idea about how he wanted to live his life and create his art.
posted by xingcat at 12:29 PM on September 26, 2018

Here's a direct link to the Today Show feature from 1982 on Larry Boyce & Associates. And now I'm extra sad because the record of his creativity and artistry may further fade due to the fact that (at least until 1982), he didn't sign his works.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:31 PM on September 26, 2018

Here's a link to a site with some images of 1st Presby.
This one's just a pinterest, but it shows the ceiling he did of the Daniels & Fisher tower in Denver.
posted by evilDoug at 12:36 PM on September 26, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'm sad to say I'd never heard of him before, because my mind is blown in a gorgeous riot of colors and shapes right now. absolutely incredible, but this:

The Exonarthex Ceiling at Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco

Exonarthex when does one get to use that word in a sentence??? (it is my favorite of his works, evocative of the stunning Ste Chappelle in Paris)
posted by supermedusa at 1:07 PM on September 26, 2018 [3 favorites]

Ooooh.

Another reason to wish for a better photo archive -- quite a lot of the 1980s work is probably at a nadir of needs-repair, out-of-fashion, and not-old-enough-to-be-defended.
posted by clew at 1:44 PM on September 26, 2018

"Boyce, who, as they say, could talk a pig into a ham sandwich, didn’t let the facts get in the way of a good story when it came to burnishing his myth."

"Talk a pig into a ham sandwich" is an expression I have to steal.

What an interesting person. Thanks for this.
posted by corvikate at 2:03 PM on September 26, 2018 [3 favorites]

Oh my God, I was just in Tucson at Congress last week and I've been there every time I'm there with my partner who grew up there (and counts Club Congress as an important stomping ground of his youth) and my first instinct is to call him out for not telling me about this, but my second is that maybe he told me and I forgot and/or wasn't listening. This is presenting quite a conundrum on the "do I bring this up tonight" scale.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:05 PM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]

MCMikeNamara: This is presenting quite a conundrum on the "do I bring this up tonight" scale.

My suggestion is to say something like "I read some fascinating stories about Larry Boyce today," and see how your partner replies :)
posted by filthy light thief at 2:29 PM on September 26, 2018 [3 favorites]

Wow. Thanks for this post.
Um...let me think. Yes, "Awesome" is appropriate.
posted by Goofyy at 3:01 PM on September 26, 2018

Wow. I was just at Hotel Congress last night to get a bite to eat. I have been in there many times and had always admired the paint work in the lobby, but last night was the first time I saw the plaque with his name on there and which mentioned that he was the one who painted the lobby.
posted by azpenguin at 3:31 PM on September 26, 2018 [6 favorites]

Now that's how a cove ceiling should be decorated.
posted by rhizome at 6:03 PM on September 26, 2018

What a fascinating person. What a reminder of what AIDS has taken from us.
posted by ocherdraco at 7:03 PM on September 26, 2018 [3 favorites]

That was a deeply fascinating story. I loved that he rarely stuck around to finish jobs, but no one seemed to hold it against him or expect anything different. Everyone (including his partner of years) just seemed happy when he was around. He must've been such a joy to be with, to inspire that response.

I also had a slight thrill, realizing I've been to one of the places. I actually took my family out to eat at the Ann Starrett Mansion, when we were in Port Townsend. (My daughter, at the time, was excited because it is supposedly haunted.) I may have to go back and get a closer look at the painting.
posted by Margalo Epps at 9:40 PM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]

From the NYT link -

''I was afraid of New York for years,'' he said, but he changed his mind after being stranded here three years ago ''during a fire in Grand Central.'' He fell in love with the city.

It must have been this fire (also NYT) and the next time my commute gets all fouled up I'll think of this and remember that something good can come out of all the disruption.
posted by wheek wheek wheek at 2:52 AM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]

What a fascinating story, but so sad about how it was cut short. I don't have a Victorian house, but I'd happily let some itinerant bicycle dudes paint it with crazy colors and designs.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:45 AM on September 27, 2018

I started hanging out in the Club Congress lobby in 1986 (too young to get into the bar) and I am have to I don't actually remember what it looked like before Larry Boyce painted the mural, or even noticing at the time that it had been painted.

I have to blame the excessive drinking. I admire it very much now, of course, every time we go for breakfast at the restaurant, or go at Christmas time so my sister can stock up on Mexican calendars to take home to Berkeley with her.
posted by Squeak Attack at 11:26 AM on September 27, 2018

Squeak Attack, I don't drink but I go to the lobby bar to eat for the bar menu. I highly recommend the Picacho Nachos. Also, during the daytime, the sandwiches across the street at Maynard's Market are primo.
posted by azpenguin at 3:05 PM on September 27, 2018