COMUNE/ Drop City artist Noel Sinclair Boyt is one creepy fucker. You wouldn’t think that at first. He’s very polite and well groomed, kinda like Christian Bale in American Psycho. All jokes aside, Noel is actually a really talented and nice guy. Noel is a Colorado native currently residing in Seattle. COMUNE’s mid west rep Patrick Tullos put me in touch with Noel and we’ve been buds ever since. Sometimes he’s the Master and I’m the Blaster and vice versa. We recently collaborated on a multi media sculptural piece called “Welcome to Hell” which we exhibited in Portland and recently..
COMUNE/ Drop City artist Noel Sinclair Boyt is one creepy fucker. You wouldn’t think that at first. He’s very polite and well groomed, kinda like Christian Bale in American Psycho. All jokes aside, Noel is actually a really talented and nice guy. Noel is a Colorado native currently residing in Seattle. COMUNE’s mid west rep Patrick Tullos put me in touch with Noel and we’ve been buds ever since. Sometimes he’s the Master and I’m the Blaster and vice versa. We recently collaborated on a multi media sculptural piece called “Welcome to Hell” which we exhibited in Portland and recently at the Drop City launch art show “Experiments in Occultism and Parapsychology”. The original print of “Welcome to Hell” is also his signature Drop City tee shirt for Fall 10. Noel’s artwork deals with the oddities of life and death, the grotesque, social commentary, and obtuse humor. It’s some of my favorite work out right now. I recently acquired one of his homemade bats titled “Rule 11”. Noel also rips at skating. Enough of the ego massage, here’s a few questions with the man himself.
You can see more of Noel’s artwork and interests here: www.noelsinclairboyt.com
Corey: Where did you grow up in Colorado? Tell me about growing up there. What were some of the highlights and oddities?
Noel: I was raised in Castle Rock, a small town roughly half way in between Denver and Colorado Springs. It’s next to Shamballa Ashrama, home to the Brotherhood of the White Temple. Obviously there are far too many things that come to mind when I think of “highlights” or “oddities”, but I can try to touch on a select few. I’ll keep these short in list form…
Finding a pristine deer in the gully behind my home completely disemboweled with all of its legs cut off. The head was still intact, the eyes were shut and the carcass was still steaming…unbelievable.
Castle Rock itself is a gigantic natural butte in the center of the town that has been home to some pretty wild fatal accidents. There was a fireworks show on the 4th of July and one shot astray into the rest of the awaiting fireworks, erupting them all at once and over flowing the butte with fire. Tons of people were on top of the rock at the time and were either burned alive or forced to jump off of the side resulting in death. There was also a metal staircase bolted into the side of the butte years and years ago for easier access for getting to the top. A class full of elementary kids during a field trip fell to most of their deaths when the stairs could not support their weight and gave way.
Assorted fellow high schoolmates suicides, there seemed to be a lot. Most notably this kid I had theatre class with, Kyle, who shot himself in the face in the school parking lot while listening to AC/DC.
The first week the super Wal-Mart opened up there was a murder in the parking lot. Someone’s wife slept with someone’s boyfriend who told so and so resulting in a shot gun blast to the abdomen. Expect more, pay less.
Corey: Was it difficult being the only one in your group of friends that skated mongo?
Noel: Chuckle-chuckle-chuckle. I actually started pushing regular to many people’s disbelief, but it was “difficult” for me to learn how to ollie.
Corey: How did you end up in Seattle and how do you like it? What’s the art scene like there and do you fit in?
Noel: My girlfriend and myself did the whole long distance relationship thing for a while, she moved to Colorado for me and then we needed a change so I moved here for her. If there is an art scene of some kind here I am very far removed from it. As far as me fitting in is concerned, I’m a loner, and as cliché as it sounds, I just do my own thing. I have yet to witness anything that has inspired me enough to want to associate with it or that or them or so on. I wander under the radar and that’s where I feel the most comfortable. With all of that being said I have met some extraordinary people who alone inspire me, like Travis Graves of Mt. Egypt and Brian Sanchez, both very interesting people.
Corey: You recently got kicked off of Facebook. Why? And what reason did they give you?
Noel: Mainly for posting gruesome, vulgar or sexually explicit photographs with “appalling captions” as Facebook wrote. They sent a personal letter wishing me to never return to their social network, it was amazing and made my Monday afternoon so much more enjoyable.
Corey: Hey Noel, how’s your grandma doing? She lives down here in Southern California right?
Noel: Yes, Grandma Shirley lives in Calimesa where she plays Super Nintendo multiple hours a day…she’s doing fine, thank you for asking.
Corey: I’m the proud owner of your “Rule 11” bat. Can you tell me a little about it and what the piece means?
Noel: The bat itself was given to me by Spencer Moody of Murder City Devils and Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death fame. I believe it houses 45 blunted nails evenly presented in parallels on the upper quarter of the bat. It was painted with a white primer, 4 coats to be exact with a 2 coat gloss finish with medical tape on the lower quarter of the bat for gripping purposes. The bat goes with several screen-printed canvases that read, “When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask them to stop. If they do not stop, destroy them.” This text is the eleventh rule of the Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth introduced by one Anton Szandor LaVey.
Corey: You’ve had some health problems, (you nearly died) tell me about them. Did you see the light? How has this affected your outlook on life and how has that translated into your artwork.
Noel: To make an extremely long story short I have a bad bad heart. I was born with a coarctation of the aorta and that’s where there is a pinch or a narrowing of the valve resulting in minimal blood flow throughout your body. I’ve had two major surgeries to fix this; one with them splitting my rib cage to my shoulder blade to attach a spiraling patch and the other with them threading a stint through my femoral artery in my groin. The physical trauma is far paler in comparison to the mental anguish one goes through in these kinds of experiences. I saw no light of any kind even for the nano-seconds they had my heart stopped, nothing. Naturally this has affected both my life and art in countless ways, too many to discuss. Now all I want to fucking do is have fun!!!
Corey: You finished a new drawing called Urban Cowboy. What’s the story behind that?
Noel: I recently read Mike Tyson’s autobiography “Urban Cowboy” and it simply moved me. Here is my favorite excerpt; “One morning I woke up and found that my favorite pigeon Julius had died. I was devastated and was gonna use his crate as my stickball bat to honor him. I left the crate on my stoop and went in to get something and I returned to see that the sanitation man put the crate into the crusher. I rushed him and caught him flush on the temple with a titanic right hand…he was out cold, convulsing on the floor like a infantile retard.”
Corey: What kind of artwork are you working on now? Are you working on a new series?
Noel: I’m wrapping up my last zine for the year entitled “The Man Who Played Dice With God Volume II”, more assorted paper threadings revolving around mental disorders and serial killers, tons and tons of contour line drawings that will eventually be screened onto cotton fiber for our show “Over The Top”, more spiked bats, collaborations with yourself, Grant Willing, and Tobias Burch of AMORT, other design work for Actual Pain, The Denver Shop and Comune…fuck, I don’t want spoil anything else.
I noticed when you did the artist series for Manik skateboards you did a little photo shoot that involved a pig’s head. How does one get their hands on a pig’s head? What did you end up doing with it?
It’s relatively easy to purchase the head itself, you can just call any random neighborhood butcher who knows his stuff, but they usually require two days notice. We ended up thawing it out which was a bad idea because then the remaining blood that the butcher had not drained properly began to leak all over the place. It got pretty messy, there were 3 men there including myself and one spiked bat in the dead of winter, and I think it was a cathartic process to say the least. After the “photo session” I had to dispose of the bat because there was flesh chunks on all of the bat’s protruding nails. Where the rest of the pigs head went is only to be told in person.
Corey: On your website you quote Harmony Korine “I never cared so much about making perfect sense. I wanted to make perfect nonsense. I wanted to tell jokes, but I didn’t give a fuck about the punch line.” Is he an inspiration to you and what does this quote mean to you?
Noel: As far as an overall influence is concerned he has played a significant role in my life most definitely, so many facets. Literature, film, theme, music, artistic presentation, comedic delivery, everything he did was on my wavelength, on my plane of thought. The non-linear presentation really spoke to me, I saw no beginning, middle, or end in any area of my life at the time and I still don’t, they’re all just stories to me. The quote expresses poetic beauty in accidents, in failures, in so called ugly things. It represents the hilariousness of someone finally coming around years later and saying “well I guess that was kind of funny how so and so lost their arm in that tractor accident.” It is supposed to allow people a chance to find something personally relative in nonsense. We might want to ask Harmony himself, he lives near my Father in Nashville.
Corey: Who’s your favorite cult leader, Marshal Applwhite jr. of Heaven’s Gate, David Koresh of the Branch Davidians, Jim Jones of the People’s Temple, or Charles Manson of the Manson Family? Who do you think would win in a UFC style cage match?
Noel: Haaaaaa! I really like certain things about all of these guys except Charles Manson, but for the sake of the question I’ll go with Marshal Applewhite because he castrated himself in Mexico City. Jim Jones might win the cage match because he was on so many drugs, just using the junkie strength and ability to feel no physical pain to his advantage. But on a serious note, my favorite cult leaders were all of the pastors of all of the churches I ever had to attend as a child, especially Mr. Ted Haggard. Yay for Colorado Springs!
Corey: What’s the best senior prank anyone’s ever pulled off?
Noel: Between Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold with the Columbine High school massacre and Osama Bin Laden/Al Quaeda/the U.S. government with the 9-11 terrorist attacks I’m not sure. Maybe Chris Hoekstra at my high school, Douglas County High School. He epoxied multiple dildos to bird sculptures surrounding our campus and lubed them up so when people went to grab them their hands just kept slipping simulating a masturbatory effect. Once while in the principles office he also found incriminating photos of school staff members naked with each other. He later photo copied them and threw them all over the school resulting in multiple people getting fired. Apparently a bunch of the male teachers went on a hunting trip together and there were photos of them all butt naked with cowboy hats hanging off their boners and stuff…amazing.
Corey: What’s the best senior prank you’ve pulled off?
Noel: Countless upper-deckers at recreational centers across the country, no one was better than the other, but for the sake of the interview we’ll go with the time I de-railed the coal train behind my house. Shit happens, wear a diaper…
Corey: If you had a gun to your head who would you rather tongue kiss Bobby Fisher or Stephen Hawking?
Noel: No gun needed Corey, Bobby Fisher of course. Hawking would be unable to kiss me back and I’m a man of movement and passion. Plus Fisher is considered insane by most public standards as where Hawking is considered sane/a genius. “I don’t believe in psychology. I believe in good moves.” –Bobby Fisher.
Corey: What cultural relevance does the Insane Clown Posse have and what does it mean to you?
Noel: The cultural relevance is that they’re bad-ass as fuck, and personally they mean freedom in a world of handcuffs and handkerchiefs.
Corey: What would your Juggalo name be?
Noel: It was, is and always shall be PSYCHO FUCK.
Corey: Who would you rather colab with on writing a rap/rock song, Violent J or Shaggy 2 Dope? What would it be called and what would it be about?
Noel: I would collaborate with Shaggy 2 Dope because I tend to trust any Caucasian male over the age of fifteen with dreadlocks instantaneously. The song would be titled “Hatchet to the Balls” and it would be about the BME pain Olympics video where the gentleman takes a hatchet to his balls…naturally.
Corey: Sounds great thanks Noel.
Noel: THANKS COREY!
Here’s some Noel footage from a few years back 2008ish.
-Corey
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