Galerie Max Hetzler / Holzwarth Publications, Berlin 2013 With texts by Daniel Mendel-Black, Philipp Schwalb and a discussion with the artist
“As Butzer’s last pieces make abundantly clear, the object of his practice has never been to defang the power of painting. The very opposite is true. In the newest series we see that the line has finally transformed from the explosive chicken-scratch of some of the earlier works to the resonant, fully active fields that now swell and tilt before our eyes with an internal energy that feels real in the kind of way only a successful abstraction can deliver. We may never have seen these paintings before, but it feels as though we have, or, at least, as though we should have. For my part, I have always believed that you know you have done something good when it looks like it has always been around, like it is so obvious you wonder why nobody ever thought of it before. What we have definitely not seen are canvases like these painted in such an obsessive/compulsive pseudo-serial manner – each one, despite their similarities, actually unique.”
D. Mendel-Black, ‘Mature Works’, in André Butzer, exh. cat., Berlin: Galerie Max Hetzler and Holzwarth Publications, 2013, pp. 5-6
Publisher: Galerie Max Hetzler / Holzwarth Publications Texts: Daniel Mendel-Black, Philipp Schwalb and a discussion with the artist Publication date: 2013 Binding: Hardcover Dimensions: 32 x 34,3 x 1,2 cm Pages: 64 ISBN: 978-3-935567-66-4
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Fusing European Expressionism with American popular culture, André Butzer (b. 1973, Stuttgart) has painted his way through the artistic and political extremes of the 20th century – life, death, consumption and mass entertainment – into the 21st century. With wide ranging influences including Paul Cézanne, Edvard Munch, Henri Matisse, as well as Walt Disney and Henry Ford, Butzer has developed a unique and elaborate fictitious universe. Many iconic characters have come to populate Butzer’s ‘Science Fiction-Expressionism’ with their recognisable large comic-book eyes, inflated heads or oversized hands. First appearing in 1999, these bright figures and shapes continue to lure the viewer in subsequent bodies of work. Engaging with the fundamental dimensions of colour, light and painterly expression, Butzer’s practice has shifted through the seemingly utter blackness of his N-Paintings, to a return to vibrancy, following his move to California between 2018 to 2021. Painting en plein air year-round, these recent works vibrate with a bold, energetic force.
Artist page on maxhetzler.com
Oudenarder Straße 16-20, Berlin-Wedding
2013
Exhibition page on maxhetzler.com