James Butt
James Butt's mixed media works incorporate sculptural texture and form with beautiful opaque colours over translucent underpainting, creating layered, semi-abstract landscapes. “I often find beauty in degraded landscape, eroded weathered geological layers inspired by Otway rivers and estuary beaches around where I live” , says James. His superimposed, sometimes improvised shapes, colours and incidental marks are almost certainly inspired by James' career as a singer/songwriter, and in this exhibition he has certainly found his voice.
Background
Born: 1965
Bachelor of Fine Art - Sculpture RMIT: 1984 – 1987
2006 Gumboot Gallery Apollo Bay 25 works on paper Mixed Media & Woodcut Prints Solo Exhibition
2005 Munich Germany Exhibition 35 works on paper Mixed Media & Woodcut Prints Solo Exhibition
2005 Apollo Bay Works on paper, Mixed Media & Woodcut Prints Solo Exhibition
2004 –05 Uber St Kilda "Collectors Show" Works on Paper Group Exhibition of International and Australian Artists
2004 Artery Fitzroy "Art to Excite the Sensors" Deaf, Blind Awareness Week Tactile Sculpture, Dynamic Installations, Wood Carvings Solo Exhibition
2004 Hogan Gallery Collingwood "Midnight Calm at the Cats Pyramid"Works on paper, mixed media & woodcut prints Solo Exhibition
2001 Big Mouth Café St Kilda Recent works on Paper & Sculpture Solo Exhibition
2000 Band Hall Gallery Kyneton Recent Works on Paper & Sculpture Solo Exhibition
1999 Odos Gallery Lorne Figurative Wood Sculpture
1996 Feral Fine Art Gallery
1996 Castle Maine Fringe Festival /
1996 Castlemaine State Festival of the Arts Feature Artists Exhibition Wood Sculpture, Collage & Drawing Solo Exhibition
1996 Gas Works Park Sth Melbourne "The Fastest You'll Ever Go Is Slow"
1995 Gasworks Outdoor Sculpture Show Kinetic Installation
1992 Gold St Gallery "Spoke" Doorway Installation & Sculpture Group Exhibition
1991 Terra Australis Gallery Painted Barrels, Driftwood Constructions & Paintings Solo Exhibition
1991 George's Collins St: Painted Barrels with Manikins Department Store Window
1990 Friends of the Earth Gallery, Fitzroy: "Recycled Materials" String, Seaweed & Wood Sculpture Group Exhibition
1990 Gas Works Park Sth Melbourne: "Extra Triennial" "Cot Death One" Installation, Wood Carvings & 50 Linear Steel Shapes Group Exhibition
1989 Discovery Bay National Park: "Seaweed, String & Skewers" Sand Dune Installations
1988 Crimea St, St Kilda: Beaten Tin Forms Group Exhibition
1986 Roar Studios, Fitzroy: "Lemniscate" Weights & Pulley Installation Group Exhibition
2006 Paris, France (Private) Large painting on canvas (incorporating wood cut prints)
2005 Anglesea Large work on canvas (private commission)
2004 Wye River Mermaid Wood Carving - Figure Head for Rookery Nook Hotel
2002 Apollo Bay Music Festival 10th Anniversary Opening Ceremony Performance, Workshops & construction of large
musician puppets with students at Apollo Bay P-12 College. Worked with Blowfly Designs on Large Inflatable Sculptures
2001 Apollo Bay Music Festival Redecoration & Restoration of Kinetic Light Shades
1999–2000 Apollo Bay Millennium Resolutions New Years Eve Performance "Night Bird" 12 Metre cane, fiberglass & fabric albatross puppet Driftwood Furniture Mosaic Spiral Drinking Fountain "Pod Lanterns" Cane & Fabric Sculptures
1998 Colac Otway Shire / Apollo Bay Festival Six large Kinetic Light Shades, Cane & Fabric Sea Dragon Sculpture / Installation
1997 Artists & Environmental Designers in Schools Project - Artists & Students Creative paving, mosaic garden, handmade & painted tiles
1996 Apollo Bay Foreshore Large Wood Sculpture
1991 Colac Sculpture Park Major Large Steel, Painted Tin & Wood Sculpture
2006 Works on paper and canvas
2005 Woodblock Prints & Mixed Media on Fabric, Canvas & Hardboard
2003, 2004, 2005 Works on paper, Mixed Media & Woodcut Prints
2002 Central Australia Woodcuts & Drawings
2000 Furniture Design & Construction
1993 Wearable Art Paintings, Silkscreen & Woodblock Prints on Clothing