Toomey Tourell Fine Art is pleased to announce a solo exhibition with the artist Eric Butcher, entitled “Material Witness”.
Dates of Exhibition: March 2nd – 31st, 2010.
Reception with the artist: Thursday, March 4th from 5:30-7:30 PM.
Butcher, a London based artist, has always been concerned with the formal relationship between surface structure and three-dimensional form or “objectness”. In this new body of work, Butcher continues his exploration of the inter-relationships between sculpture and painting and all the permutations that lie in between. Upon first appearance, his work might be compared to the hard-edged abstract paintings of American painters such as Kenneth Noland or Gene Davis from the ’60’s and ’70’s, or the precision of Pop and Op artists such as Ellsworth Kelly. The interesting thing is that Butcher’s paintings address not only the picture plane, but architectural elements; these are paintings as objects that occupy space in a definitive way, rather than defining space only through the pictorial.
In Butcher’s words, “this body of work represents an attempt at the selective articulation of the surfaces of aluminum structures through the use of paint and resin. It is made through a process governed by specific rules. A thin transparent monochrome is spread across the surface of the aluminum and then stripped off, using a variety of blades and instruments drawn across the surface. This procedure is then repeated, slowly building up an accumulation of residues.
The outcome is determined largely by the physical characteristics of the support; the imperfections of the metal surface, the burr of its edge; or shifts in the consistency of the paint/resin mix, or the build up along the edge of the blade as it strips the surface bare. Each tiny imperfection is amplified by the process of stripping, leaving a ridge of denser color to register its presence, a ‘register of failure’ if you will. The finished piece is an accumulation of what the artist has learnt about that particular piece of metal through successive applications and subtractions.
Paradoxically, in adopting this quasi-mechanized approach – free of emotion, free of explicit content – a quintessentially human quality emerges. When compared with the perfection of machine production, the limitations and failures of the human hand are writ large. Everything in the painted surface that deviates from a strict monochrome is predicated upon error, human or material. As such this artistic practice represents a ‘glorification of error.”
Eric Butcher has exhibited widely in Europe and America, and has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships. His work has been included in many important public and private collections. This is his third exhibition with Toomey Tourell Fine Art.
Eric Butcher - P/R.335, 2008, oil, resin on aluminum, 6 at (9 x 11.8) inches
2009, oil, resin on extruded aluminum
Eric Butcher - E/R.346, 2009, oil, resin on extruded aluminum box section, 1 (83.5 x 1.7 x 7.8) inches
Eric Butcher - E/R.357, 2009, oil, resin on extruded aluminum box section, 14 (29-1/2 inches x variable section widths/depths)
Eric Butcher - L/R.328, 2009, oil, resin on extruded aluminum angle section, 1 (3.9 x 3.9 x 59) + 1 (3.9 x 3.9 x 19.4) inches
Eric Butcher - L/R.342, 2009, oil, resin on extruded aluminum angle section, 1 (3.93 x 3.93 x 59) inches
