Mark Butler
2006
Stemming from a long tradition of Bay Area figurative painting, Butler’s
current work continues, through a contemporary and personal lens, the perennial
and existential question of interrelationships between people, nature, history,
and their environment.
His work is shown nationally and is included in many private collections. Mark
Butler lives and works near San Francisco, California.
“Through atmospheric light, subtle layers, controlled palette and brush
gesture, I get a feel for the space within the picture plane and articulate
forms. My decisions are made physical and left exposed on the canvas through
translucent layers of paint and excavations using sandpaper. Continuing to draw,
reveal, and embed forms creates a geology of process and form. When the original
idea falls away and an intuition that is informed by the past guides my actions,
that is the moment when the painting gains a certain momentum of thoughts, gestures,
and memories, which compile to make visual conversation.
Silhouettes of anonymous figures, objects floating, life cycles of animals,
subtle lines and bold symbols combine to indicate an allegory that is open for
interpretation. I work from my own language of painting, informed by familiarity
and experimentation. From intimate spaces bathed in lamplight, or simply the
pattern of sunlight and shadow on an otherwise unremarkable afternoon, to catastrophic
events such as a flood these depictions act as metaphorical allusions to interior,
emotional landscapes.”