By: Lauren Hodges

Dwight Schrute once asked, in his best after-school-special persona, “Depression? Isn’t that just a fancy word for feeling bummed-out?” Though there seem to be plenty of lessons to be learned from network television, depression is a serious condition inflicted upon millions of Americans that can only truly be understood on a personal level. As an artist, local painter and furniture designer, David Bodhi Boylan can’t help but feel a little down about his position in society.

“It almost feels ridiculous to be an artist these days,” Boylan says. “It feels like I’m doing something that no one cares about. As artists, we are trying to live this heightened life of privilege, pretending we’re doing something important. The truth is: It doesn’t have anything to do with most people’s lives.”

What else is there to do, though, but use one’s artistic talents to express those hopeless feelings? Boylan, a graduate of both Boston’s School of Fine Arts and London’s Slade School of Fine Art, has a vast collection of paintings, mostly of images articulating his inner turmoil. “I have one of me holding a skull in front of my penis,” he says. “It is supposed to represent sexuality in my life. My genitals are being demonized.”

Boylan’s blunt way of speaking—verbally and artistically—might be a bit much for some to handle, but he means no disrespect. He has been in the hot seat locally for saying a few things about Wilmington as a depressing town. “A lot of people were mad about that article last year [in Currents],” he says. “The truth is, my words were twisted. There are a lot of things I like about Wilmington. I wouldn’t have moved here otherwise. There are some things happening that people might not want to hear about, though.”

One of the things that bothers Boylan about the Port City is the crime. “It’s depressing,” he says. “A lot of people are broke here, so there is crime. There is crime everywhere, but somehow it is a big problem here.”

When he first arrived in Wilmington in 2007, he spent a few days visiting the city’s art houses and galleries. “I felt a challenge coming on,” he says. “There aren’t hundreds of places here, like in New York. You can’t flit in and out of places and have no one notice you. You have to get in with the crowd and make friends. There is a lot of competition.”

This challenge ended up being good for Boylan, however. “You can make really good friends here,” he says. “I love that I can now walk into those places and see people that I know. You can’t always do that in other cities.” He found a niche with performance art, putting on shows with his friend Justin Plakas in an apartment downtown. After meeting Dixon Stetler, owner of Wabi-Sabi Warehouse, during his first local art house exploration, he began seeing her more often. “I started working as a teacher with her at DREAMS [Center for Art Education],” he says. “We became really good friends.”

Stetler approached Boylan about doing a show at the warehouse this year, and working on the exhibit inspired him to take a private studio at the intimate art house. “There are great shows in that gallery,” he says. “I’ve always liked it there, and now I can work there. It’s nice.”

The upcoming show at Wabi-Sabi is going to allow Boylan to share his inner mayhem with the town that both inspires and depresses him—this time on his own terms. Perhaps those who took Boylan’s previous comments about Wilmington personally will be a little more open-minded when they realize his frustration isn’t confined within city limits.

“All of my paintings are set in places that depress me,” he says. “Vermont is in there. I grew up in Woodstock, New York. Both of those places are in my work.” One particular painting, “What People Really Do in Vermont,” portrays Boylan himself doing yoga in the middle of a river. “The yoga, the skull in front of my penis, all of it is passive-aggressive,” he says. “Since I guess I can’t say exactly what it is that bothers me, I say it indirectly through my work.”

“A Passive Aggressive Response to Depression: Paintings and Sculptures by David Bodhi Boylan” opens at Wabi-Sabi Warehouse on December 5th at 7pm. The warehouse is located in historic downtown at 19 North 9th Street. The reception will include a performance by Boylan, as well as a tour of his personal art studio. The show will include Boylan’s “trash” furniture, which is made from second-hand domestic goods he encounters through his work with Habitat for Humanity.

Call 910-520-4546 for more information.