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Paintings in Dwayne Butcher's "Back Home Again" are displayed in the Anne Kittrell Art Gallery. Butcher will be attending a lecture and reception hosted by the gallery tomorrow.

Artist returns home with minimalist techniques

By: Anna Nguyen

Posted: 9/3/08

Artist Dwayne Butcher is returning to his birthplace to exhibit his first solo show, titled "Back Home Again," at the Anne Kittrell Art Gallery. The exhibit title is homage to his upbringing in Arkansas, said Butcher, who was born in Dewitt.

"I have had several shoes in Arkansas in the past, but this is [my] first solo show," said Butcher, who is in his last year of graduate school at the Memphis College of Art. "['Back Home Again'] is a title I have been looking forward to using for some time."

The collection of about 14 acrylic paintings showcases the type of artwork Butcher had been creating over the last several years. His earlier works were "very mechanical with machine-like finishes," he said. "I tried to deny any evidence of the artist hand.

"Then, almost suddenly, the work needed a change, more personality," Butcher said. "That is where the black lines come from. They were a way of loosening up within the painting to contrast the slick surface."

Butcher's paintings convey a simplistic, inconspicuous perspective, and the artist himself said he believes that minimalism best defines the manner in which he works.

"In all of the work that I make, I try to make [them] as clean and elegant as I can," said Butcher, citing his fondness for the Minimalist movement. "Donald Judd [is] the most important, prominent influence. Other artists I look to are Mary Heilman, Johnathan Lasker, Rineke Dijkstra, Greely Myatt, Bill Viola, Scott Richter, [and] the list goes on and on."

Although the paintings appear to be innate, Butcher counteracts the simplicity of his paintings with fun, experimenting colors.

"I have always considered myself somewhat of a colorist," Butcher said. "I am always trying to push the boundaries of what normal color palettes do. I have a tendency to use a lot of blue. Blue and the color pink. I love pink.

"There is nothing better than a big redneck from Arkansas that uses a lot of pink," he said.

In addition to his stylistic approach, most of Butcher's designs also allude to his obsession with knee-high socks, which was founded upon by another form of artistic endeavor. Along with painting, Butcher makes short narrative videos.

"One of my recent videos consisted of women dancing around a gallery in knee-high socks," he said. "These paintings come from stills of that video."

The Anne Kittrell Art Gallery will host a lecture presented by Butcher 6 p.m. tomorrow with a reception to follow. "Back Home Again" will be displayed at the gallery until Sept. 12.