AESTHETIC ANOREXIA: Fear of Paint, Canvas, Content

 “Pink Thing” (2013). Pigment, binder, pencil, staples, stretchers, on linen tarp, 18″ x 24″.

 "My eye fastens on a crumpled staple in Sharon Butler's painting, and then I get it." 

   Elizabeth Johnson  

    

AESTHETIC ANOREXIA: Fear of Paint, Canvas, Content 

By Federico Correa 

 

 

Seems  of late that  a  number of contemporary painters appear to be suffering from an  aesthetic anorexic disorder. A choice    that slims or limits  them from fully engaging in the act and process of painting. Most evident in the  work by these folks  is the lack of  vitality and/or absence of human pathos. As a result content if any is bereft.....  bloodless  and empty.  Needless to say ,    these anemic  painted visual  images  struggle to stand  on their  own visual merit.  Lacking in appropriate complexity and formal development ,  the work   requires a helping hand ... a crutch in the form of the  painted word.  In this post,    I briefly note New York artist Sharon Butler and her  recent  exhibition as illustration of the anorexia that has affected a select group of painters.

 Butler  has written much  about art that purposely  supports her  created painted objects.  She speaks of the  "New Casualists"....a term she coined in an essay masquerading as manifesto- lite to describe and give anchor to  her work and other work similar to hers. 

 In a  recent past exhibition titled "Precision Casualist",  Butler showcased    a number of works reportedly   influenced either by Hurricane Sandy  and/or allegedly  forged  during the time the  storm     devastated     the east coast.   The word "hurricane"  appears in  titles of some of the work : a welcomed written clue beyond the "crumpled staple" that so enlightened Elizabeth Johnson who reviewed the exhibition. 
 
   

“Pinkish (Hurricane),” 2013 Pigment and silica linen tarp

"Where's the beef "?

Plainly,  Butler's  emaciated work  projects  an aesthetic  anorexia : a fear of paint,  canvas, and  content ...a needless starvation.   Paint color and  application is restrained, sparse,  thin,  guarded  and precious as if not to waste it.  The canvas platform/surface  with exposed staples  and stretcher is comical.....perhaps even cute. However , overall, what is clearly evident is that Butler's  painted image  is  rigidly  contrived in order that it  achieve  a certain and desired appearance.  It is here...in the  self-conscious  manipulation of materials   where Butler kills  human emotion. It is here where she  lays her work to rest only to have it resuscitated by the written/spoken word.       Aesthetically,    her scanty meager attempts  suffer . It leaves  the   viewer  with a lingering  hunger for visual meat....form and content, etc.

Rauschenberg & Matisse to the Rescue

In explaining her anorexic painted objects, Butler gives weight to her work  by evoking   Robert Rauschenberg and Henri Matisse among other painters of some acclaim: "Like Rauschenberg, my decision-making is spontaneous — I react to circumstances as they unfold — and the objects themselves are as important as the images painted on the surfaces. But Rauschenberg’s materiality is like the seasons in New England, with wild swings and radical contrast, and the decisions in my work are less dramatic. More like the seasons in Los Angeles."

 Referring to her approach to image making,  Butler  further says:  "As the Met points out in the excellent Matisse show that’s now up, making something look effortless isn’t always easy."  Indeed...however,  let me add that  El Greco and Phillip Guston  too labored  to make their  work appear  "spontaneous" and  "effortless". They however succeeded and in the final analysis had much to say by way of the painted image. 

 Last point..... unlike Butler's attempts.....  Rauschenberg  offered a veritable visual feast .... abundant  and sumptuous   in  intellectual content , and  use  of  materials.   His intent was readily understood and  appreciated  despite the absence of a "crumpled staple".  

 Source for the above...including images: 
 Sharon Butler’s New Casualist paintings at The Painting Center in New York   By Elizabeth Johnson  

When Paintings Come Apart: Sharon Butler on the Inside Out         By Thomas Micchelli
SFMOMA