Foster Boyajian is a Boston-based artist whose work delves into the dynamic interplay between color, form, and the body’s sensory experience. With a background in printmaking and a current focus on large-scale abstract painting, she is deeply engaged in exploring how color and scale influence both physical and emotional reactions. Through instinctual movements and performative gestures, her large-scale paintings invite immersive confrontation, while her smaller prints offer a more intimate, contemplative engagement. Boyajian’s iterative process is driven by a constant dialogue and through process considering the work, the artist, and the viewer. Her approach involves a constant iterative practice where each piece feeds into the next, evolving through layers of color, texture, and form. Through the expansive, performative energy of her paintings and the delicate, personal engagement of her prints, Boyajian’s work invites reflection on perception, existence, and the constant cycle of contemplation and creation.
Statement
My work is an Ouroboros of iterative making, where each piece feeds into the next, creating a continuous cycle of creation, reflection, and transformation. I explore the boundless interaction between color, form, and proprioception—the body’s instinctual understanding of space and movement—and how these elements inform our conscious perception of the environment. The canvas becomes both a confidant and collaborator, as I layer thin paints through instinctive gestures, watching them dry as a meditative and iterative process. This process balances moments of control and restraint between myself and the paints own autonomy. This process of making is both confronting and meditative, a constant negotiation between action and reflection, where the work emerges as both a personal expression and an independent entity.
The scale of my work is central to how it is experienced, physically and emotionally, by both myself and the viewer. In my process, I work above my larger paintings, tending to the paint and coaxing the texture with both deliberate movements, and setting up conditions for the paint to settle. Then, the act of bringing the painting "ground up" transforms it, confronting both the viewer and myself. This process is echoed in the embodied response demanded by these paintings, enveloping the viewer and challenging their perception, inviting them into an immersive, almost confrontational space. In contrast, my smaller prints offer a more intimate, focused interaction, where the viewer’s tactile engagement with texture and color invites a more intimate contemplation. These shifts in scale mirror the ebb and flow between expansive and introspective human experiences, moving from the macro to the micro, the need to lean in versus step back and move the whole body.
Color plays a vital role in this dialogue, acting not only as a visual element but as a conduit for sensory experiences that evoke emotional and physical responses. Color is an instinctual part of my process. As I layer and intertwine hues, I'm tapping into the extensive relationship between color and depth. Through form and texture this depth is also built. The color in my work is alive, it's an entity–it pulsates and shifts, presenting the viewer with an opportunity for dialog. Ultimately, the viewer's individual perception becomes integral to the work, as their unique history and sensory apparatus shape their engagement with the color and the space it creates. The interaction as a creator is an instinctual and inquisitive dialog, it is not passive but activates the way my mind and body tends to the work and space. This technique of layering adds not only physical depth to the work but also emotional and perceptual layers that the viewer can interpret. The layers are akin to the depth of perception, emotion, and experience. This experience and act of layering color is not singular however, but is an idea that continuously evolves and iterates such as my practice does.
