Richard Boyer began painting at an early age, first showing his work while still attending high school in Williamsville, New York.  In 1976 his interests in mountain climbing and skiing led him west to Salt Lake City, Utah.  Boyer graduated from the University of Utah, where for five years he studied portrait and figurative painting under “Alvin Gittins”. Gittins’ ability to render the figure so accurately intrigues and influences Boyer to this day.

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After earning his B.F.A. in 1981, Richard’s wanderlust took him to Germany, where he studied languages at the Universität Kiel. With Kiel as a home base, he utilized the opportunity to travel throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In 1984, he left Kiel for the faster lifestyle of West Berlin, which provided a rich backdrop for experimentation in his painting style. There he lived the Bohemian life with other German artists, painting the harsh reality of a city trapped behind the iron curtain.

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Since 1988, Richard divides his time between Salt Lake City and Sweden, the native home of his wife Karin. Along with teaching painting, this artist enjoys gourmet cooking, sailing, and fly fishing.  Be it along the quiet waterways of Amsterdam and Bruges, or in the rolling hills of Provence, he continues to travel frequently through Europe, searching for new locations and intriguing matter for each new subject matter.

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Recognition and awards have been numerous.  Arts for the Parks honored Boyer with the "Marine Art Award" in 2003, the "Judge’s Choice Award" in both the 2000 and 2001 Competitions. Also, in the 1999 Arts for the Parks Competition, two of his paintings were among the top 100 selected. His work has been displayed in the “Oil Painters of America” show many times and won their "Animals Award of Excellence".   He was featured in the August 1999 Southwest Art as an “Artist to Watch”. He has also won the “Art Times Award” from the Salmagundi Club in New York and the "Stobart Foundation Award" at the Twenty- third "Annual Mystic International."   He has been featured on the cover of “American Artist" December 2004 and the cover of “International Artist" December 2006. With many exhibitions, plein air shows and awards from all around the U.S. and Europe to his credit, Richard Boyer continues to be drawn to cityscapes, water scenes, and well as intriguing rural life landscapes wherever his travels may take him.  He received the 2020 Door County Plein Air 'Best in Show' award for his work "Old Barn," which according to Judge Randall Sexton, embodied the true spirit of plein air in its composition, technique and subject matter. 

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