B. WATERLOO, IOWA, 1936
D. ITHACA, NEW YORK, 2015

Michael Boyd began his career as an Abstract Expressionist in New York City. Finding his own voice at a time when abstraction was giving way to conceptual art, Boyd focused on distilling his paintings down to their core structure. Maintaining an interest in color and form, Boyd’s career celebrates the medium of painting. After graduating in 1959 with honors in art from the University of Northern Iowa and a stint in Ajijic, Mexico, Boyd moved to New York, where he became part of the downtown artists’ community. Despite a lack of formal training in the subject, Boyd found work in graphic design and by 1968, became a professor of graphic design and environmental analysis at Cornell University, New York and held a tenured professorship from 1970 onward, splitting his time between Ithaca and New York City. Finding success, Boyd had several solo exhibitions at Max Hutchinson Gallery in the 1970’s and continued to show in galleries and museums across the country throughout his career. His work is in the permanent collections of institutions including the Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY, The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, and the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY.