“Boylet Toilet” is a pet name given Jeff Gibbons by his mother. And while it’s questionable that she’s the family poet who doesn’t know it, her son certainly seems to be, as evidenced by his namesake installation at Oliver Francis Gallery.
He calls it a sort of self-portrait. If that’s the case, it’s the portrait of the artist as a highly-strung young man. I encounter him first inside his own skull, machinations humming along at a carefully engineered clip. When I pass through the proscenium of his dura mater to the next gallery, however, it’s another matter altogether. Despite (or because of) his attempts at control, Gibbons is bouncing off the walls, and for the first time I felt floor markers surrounding the art were there instead to protect me.
Here’s a video of “Boylet Toilet” by Jeff Gibbons, on view at Oliver Francis Gallery through June 16.
Video credits: Kevin Rubén Jacobs and Bryan Scott Prater
