Galerie Max Hetzler / Galerie Guido W. Baudach, Berlin 2009 With an essay by Travis A. McMichael III
André Butzer developed his own form of expression by reacting to the non-figurative paintings by Albert Oehlen, the colour range of Edvard Munch and Asger Jorn’s dense and bright compositions. Influenced by German Expressionism, André Butzer shaped a style of intense colours, which produce an artificially exaggerated reality with overreaching and sometimes apparently grotesque forms. His work equally shows figurative elements which are often referring to comic-like figures. [...] In this recent series of grey paintings graphical elements appear such as dots, spirals and geometrical forms. The background surface is no longer saturated with thick layers of paint. Only graphical strokes of coloured lines are running in angular forms parallel to the edges. The composition is truly different from the colour paintings. Fewer motifs are depicted and the resulting effect represents a crucial contrast between the two series.
Publisher: Galerie Max Hetzler / Galerie Guido W. Baudach, Berlin Essay: Travis A. McMichael III Publication date: 2009 Binding: Softcover Dimensions: 40 x 41 x 0.4 cm
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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
Zimmerstraße 90/91, Berlin-Mitte
2009
Exhibition page on maxhetzler.com
