Beyond the Conceivable w/Joe Boyd

Sometimes it feels like we’re all magnets—attracting chaos, pulling at meaning, pushing away what doesn’t fit. It’s a constant dance to feel in control, to map some kind of direction. Creativity? It’s the opposite. It’s the storm that tears up your careful plans, flips the table, and leaves you staring at something raw and unignorable. In this beautiful mess, our paths cross with Joe Boyd, a mixed media artist whose work is just as untethered and transformative as the process behind it. His creations feel like they’ve been pulled from a dream, warped and stretched into something new, yet hauntingly familiar. Call it serendipity, call it the law of attraction—whatever it was, it sparked something undeniable.

Joe’s creative process is chaos with intention, a dance between spontaneity and precision that thrives on the unpredictable. He turns overlooked objects into narratives that demand your attention. “It’s about seeing the potential in the everyday objects we often overlook as being ordinary or banal and transforming them into something unique,” Joe reflects. His medium, scanography, feels like a perfect metaphor for his ethos—it’s experimental, raw, and unrestricted, mirroring the way he approaches both his art and his life. Each piece seems to carry the residue of its journey, a fingerprint of the moment it was created.

Our worlds collide in this exclusive collaboration, where thoughts become words, objects transform into shapes, and ideas manifest as images. The result is four extraordinary pieces that capture the essence of this shared journey—Joe’s interpretation of our inner selves, brought to life for the first time. “An artwork has two lives: one with me and another out there in the world. Once I put it out, it’s not mine anymore,” Joe says. And maybe that’s the real confession: creativity isn’t about ownership. It’s about letting go.

To set the stage, could you introduce us to the universe you create through your art? What journey led you to discover and explore scanography as your unique medium within this realm? 

I’m a mixed media artist. I use unconventional equipment and processes such as scanners, microscopes and projectors, to recycle household items and other non- traditional materials into abstract pieces of art.

I discovered the photocopier when I was in school and used it to duplicate inspiration from library books. However, I realised one day when I accidentally moved a book across the glass, that you could distort and stretch materials. This began a journey of experimentation with manipulating images, typography and any object I could get my hands on. 

I then found out I could achieve the same results at home with a scanner, and produce a digital file on my laptop that I could then edit further with software. It’s been an incredible tool of self-expression that’s enabled me to create a huge amount of art, without the need for any traditional equipment. 

Your scanography acts as your signature that turns mundane objects into profound narratives. What do you aim to convey, and what emotions do you hope to evoke in observers? 

It’s about seeing the potential in the everyday objects we often overlook as being ordinary or banal, and transforming them into something unique. I work this way to prove to myself that there is beauty everywhere, even in the places people consider ugly or boring. 

My hope is that this feeling is transferred to the viewer, and they are encouraged to notice the world around them with a new perspective. 

Despite being a digital art form, your scanography is deeply intertwined with the physical world, co-creating with spontaneity. How does the unpredictability of physical materials influence your creative process? Does your artwork seek to disrupt conventional perceptions or to reshape them? 

I’m just true to the ideas that come. The way I work is very natural to me, even if it seems disruptive to others. The unpredictability of physical materials is a core aspect of my creative process. When I use found objects, there’s a spontaneity and a lack of control that I fully embrace. I never know exactly how the final piece will turn out, which keeps the process exciting and dynamic. This forces me to adapt and respond to the materials, leading to many unexpected discoveries. It’s a practice that mirrors life, teaching me to be comfortable with uncertainty and always open to new possibilities. 

By challenging traditional norms, you position yourself as a rebel against the conceived and accustomed. As an artist, do you strive to alter the perception of reality, or do you invite others to see the world through your unique perspective? 

I make art for myself, not the audience. So during the creative process I’m never worrying about how the work will be perceived. My only goal each day is to find new and exciting ideas to explore. If I can do this, then the work is already a success for me. 

An artwork really has two lives, one with me in my studio and another when it’s presented to the public. At this stage I let it go and however the audience reacts is fine with me. 

A confession about yourself. 

I spend a lot of time dreaming. When I’m at my studio, I’m usually lost in thought. All the inspiration we ever need can be found in the subconscious mind, so I’m always deep in there, searching for my next idea.

You can visit https://thisisjoeboyd.com to learn more about the artist and explore recent works.