Artist Ben Butler's "Cloud."
Photo by Courtesy of the artist and John Davis Gallery (Hudson, N.Y., and Zg Gallery (Chicago)
Ben Butler’s “Below,” 2010, ink on paper.
Let's trot out the technical terms "exquisite" and "awesome" for Ben Butler's exhibition "On Growth," which runs through Feb. 18 at Rhodes College's Clough-Hanson Gallery.
Butler teaches sculpture at Rhodes, and indeed the unavoidably eye-catching pieces in the show are two sculptures, the floor-hugging, geological "Drift" and the seemingly infinitely expandable, Tinkertoy-run-riot "Cloud." No, "Cloud" is not actually made of Tinkertoys (a registered trademark of Hasbro, and one intends no disrespect), but the immediate impression on seeing this piece is "Wow, if I were 9 years old and had 1,000 Tinkertoy sets and a lotta room ..."
Butler takes notions of organic growth and its natural laws seriously, though for all the (for want of a less ponderous word) philosophical background he might bring to his task, his work embodies a truly lovely and delicate lightness of being that's both profound and irresistible. The exhibition's 17 abstract drawings are particularly seductive, for the mind-boggling, minute obsessiveness of their execution, for their breadth of invention and for a pure kind of beauty that, to quote Walter Pater, "burns with a hard, gem-like flame."
I mistook the origin of these works, thinking that the designs were computer-generated or that they derived from geometrical computer models. Gallery director Hamlett Dobbins told me otherwise. In the example of "Drift," composed of hundreds of undulating pieces of poplar wood of various lengths arranged as if in an archipelago, Butler began with one piece of wood and allowed the work to shape itself and grow under the care of his hand and saw.
An ink drawing such as "Below" begins with one infinitesimally tiny cross-hatch and goes on from there, expanding, contracting, enveloping, gravitating, accumulating, attenuating, tailing off, altogether an embodiment of the marriage between tensile power and unutterable delicacy.
Working with ink and an instrument with a very tiny point of course results in an inescapable form of rigorous precision. Butler also works with graphite, and the effect in these cases, as in the beautiful "Trace," is denser, more smoky and nebulous, more sensual and yet more mysterious in a luminous, supple, serpentine manner. This piece doesn't burn; it coolly smolders.
And what is both awesome and exquisite about "On Growth" is that those qualities are inextricable. Form and function, subject and structure, "the medium is the message" -- all align and permeate each other in an artistic performance that is, to extend all these paradoxes, both bravura and self-effacing. There are many lessons here, for artists of all kinds.
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"On Growth"
At Clough-Hanson Gallery, Rhodes College, through Feb. 18. Gallery open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 843-3442.
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Comments » 2
Bluesfan1959 writes:
Another art "critic" telling us about the King's new clothes again. These are nothing more than unrecognizeable shapes presented as art. I grow weary of self-declared experts in the field of art telling me that organized junk like this is in the same category as portraiture or still life. Being an artist means to master your medium. How can we tell if Mr. Butler has mastered anything by this display of pixy sticks or his smearing of ink on paper? "the medium is the message"? Are you kidding me? You say that because there is no way to discern an intelligent thought from what we are given as evidence of Mr. Butlers abilities.
wilgm writes:
Firstly, Bluesfan1959, I'm not sure if you've been present on this earth sometime in the past 100 years, but this isn't just an example of another "critic," this happens to be something that has existed for a long, long time. It's called "abstract art," and it has been an accepted part of the art world since the late 19th century. I am one of Ben Butler's students, and--knowing him personally, unlike you--I can say that he happens to be a fantastic teacher as well as a very intelligent guy. One who puts a lot of thought into the aesthetics, processes, and intentions of his art. Have you ever had a thought or a feeling that you can't express perfectly in words or real-world images? Most people have. I think if the only thing that matters to you about art is seeing an artist display their mastery of a given medium then you are missing out on a lot of possibilities, and maybe you need to reassess whether you value art at all as something separate from the artist. You couldn't honestly make a case that the state of art would be in a better place if every Ben Butler were replaced by a Thomas Kinkade, can you?
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