“It was the best year of my life!” he exclaims, as he got to meet amazing people and have the time and freedom of his life. It was during this career change that one of his friends offered to have him come to New York for a weekend. It was his first time in the city, just two weeks before 9/11, and he fell in love with the energy in the metropolitan air.

“I had gotten to this point, where I needed to be, who I was gonna be,” Boneau says.

Pointing to a large painting behind his couch, he proclaims, “I started this piece in school. I didn’t have any boundaries. I was just doodling. I was painting forms and shapes with architecture.”

“Then 9/11 struck. I had just been in NYC,” he revealingly adds, cutting his sentence short as he falls into brief contemplation. The painting, over four-feet-tall, bears the number 27 in the top corner and is filled with an underwater-like spectrum of color from violet to sage to rust. One can barely see the faded images of shapes under the paint’s surface under the transparent oil colors. For Boneau, it is a symbol.

“One day, I just covered it with paint. I put my age on it. I knew I would be an artist because I made meaning out of that painting. It was like a tombstone. From that point on I knew I needed meaning to be expressive. It didn’t hide anything, the shapes still showed through,” he says.

With fresh insight and new-fangled inspiration, Boneau was determined to evolve into some sort of artist. He set off again for New York, where for him it would be the biggest challenge to “make it.” Only his second day in the Big Apple, he found a building construction site around the corner from the friend’s apartment in which he was living. Boneau simply walked onto the site, spoke to the man in charge, and began working the next day as one of the builders. His work as an architect and designer began to grow from that point on, yet, he still was not painting. It was not until a friend’s engagement party that he finally put brush to palette and began creating a painting (which, instead of portraying his friends, resembled Boneau and his girlfriend, now wife). When he and the same lover moved to an apartment together, he once again dove into his love for painting on walls. With free expression all over their apartment, his girlfriend finally suggested canvases. Not long after, he had his first showcase at Serendipity bar, displaying a select number of his abstract works.

And he has been creating works of art ever since.

“When you realize you have a gift, you realize you need to share it,” Boneau says. “More so than ever, I feel like I need to keep going. I paint for other people to enjoy it. I have to be satisfied when I’m done. I [didn’t] choose to be a painter…it just happened.”

This natural progression toward finding his (and anyone’s) niche is mirrored in his works. He believes everyone is progressing each day toward something new and different. He believes every time one develops a skill, it is naturally added to the grab-bag of that person and taken with them on their journey to the next event in their life.

“The universe didn’t start yesterday. I don’t think it’s [evolution] is conscious. It’s natural. The most conscious thing I do is set up my own boundaries. That’s why I love to paint. I make my own rules,” he says.

Boneau refuses to paint without meaning, and his insightful works demonstrate his passion in paint. He demands to have a clear concept before he even picks up a brush. For him to create, it must hold purpose for him, and therefore, others.

“I already know before I start, I’m already halfway there,” he says, explaining that each of his works must start with a clear significance. He begins with an idea (his boundaries) and then plays within those ramifications. “To me it already has enough meaning before I start. I don’t have to make up something when it’s done.”

The evolution of Boneau and his works continue.  He is constantly looking for new inspiration and new venues for his works, always striving to establish parameters (or concepts) within which to create.

“In the design world, you’re only as good as your last project. I have to keep setting new boundaries, new rules, new goals, horizons to tackle,” he says of the road that is repetitively ahead of him.

And rightfully so, as for this unexpected young artist, the evolutionary journey of his incredibly insightful works has only just begun.

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