John G. Boehme

John G. Boehme is a multi-hyphenate artist whose work spans performance, education, and curation. His practice deeply explores social and political themes through a multidisciplinary approach, blending visual art, live performance, and critical pedagogy elements.Boehme's performances challenge and engage audiences, prompting them to reflect on issues such as power, identity, and societal norms. As an educator, he has inspired students, fostering creativity and critical thinking in the next generation of artists. His role as a curator further amplifies his impact as he carefully selects and organizes exhibitions and performances that provoke thought and dialogue. John G. Boehme's work has been featured in numerous prestigious biennials, galleries, venues and festivals worldwide, underscoring his international influence. His contributions extend beyond his performances; he creates spaces for meaningful artistic exchange and transformation through his teaching and curatorial work. As a multi-hyphenate, Boehme embodies the versatility and depth of contemporary art practice. His ability to seamlessly navigate and integrate various roles within the arts highlights his diverse skill set and his commitment to fostering a rich and dynamic cultural landscape. Through his multifaceted career, John G. Boehme continues to push the boundaries of art, education, and curation, impacting the global arts community.

What interests me is the ongoing reformulation of a set of key interests. These interests are drawn from my observations of Western society's less-considered compulsions. Exploring the performance of gender, specifically masculinity, the valorization of labour, the pursuit of leisure, and the marshalling of amity. I explore language and paralanguage, that is, both the spoken and gestural aspects of human communication. Live artwork presents a direct relationship with material, action and process, and human interaction, as I understand it. Physical involvement is the most embodied way to create meaning. Through durational works, both the artist and the audience gain access to the experience that is uniquely available through such commitment. This is the archetypal modality of 'performance art,' an experience that unfolds over an extended period of time. Nothing can replace that learning, that specific duration of being. Although there is no alternative to the durational aspect of performance, I remain interested in the question of the representation of performance. The apparent and obvious problem of making the ephemeral available to a larger audience at a different time. Using video to "reconstruct" an event makes publication and discourse possible. Despite its material concerns, art is rendered ultimately in the social domain.Concerning multidisciplinary works, I prefer the alternative term multi-hyphenate, as it refers to integration between media, work that spans performance art, Live art, intermedia, and visual arts not confined to a single artistic identity but instead integrates multiple forms and approaches in my practice. This versatility and the blending of different art forms highlight his multi-hyphenate nature.