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Christian Butterfield
Green Light, 11 September - 9 October 2021

Christian Butterfield: Green Light

Past exhibition
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Overview
Christian Butterfield, Green Light

Corkin Gallery is pleased to announce  Green Light, the debut solo exhibition of work by Christian Butterfield. The canvases in this presentation exemplify Butterfield’s preoccupation with painting as a medium for spatial and psychological investigation. Comprising deeply personal portraits from his  Cheeks  and  Cold  series and works from his  Apology Flowers  series, including two monumental new paintings, the exhibition showcases compositions that are at once representative and abstract, disordered and structured.

 

With many of his works, Butterfield starts by layering carefully selected newsprint clippings and fragments from publications, frequently sourced from the pages of  Time Magazine, to create a new “canvas” upon the canvas. The composite backdrops not only serve to “timestamp” the work, but also contrast the freneticism of collage — and the relentlessness of media soundbites in today’s world — with the form and systematicity of historical portrait painting. It is at this intersection between order and disorder that Butterfield evokes and explores the psychological aspects of his relationship with a given subject, who is often a friend, family member, or current or former partner. He frequently superimposes graphic stripes over the collage as a strategy for obscuring emotional vulnerability, engaging viewers in a process of hide-and-seek whereby psychological states are both concealed and revealed.

 

“At a time when new interpersonal connections are few and far between, Christian has captured the innate experience of getting to know someone,” explains Jane Corkin, the gallery owner. “His unique pictorial language and strategic use of collage allows his subjects to slowly unveil themselves, inviting viewers to acquaint themselves with different emotional states.”

 

The two most recent paintings in the exhibition mark a departure from the collage and abstraction that characterize Butterfield’s earlier work. Anchored by the same surrealist blooms that define earlier works in his Apology Flowers  series, these canvases exhibit a sophisticated handling of paint to experiment with light and its sources. Bulbous petals are illuminated from multiple directions, serving to disorient and destabilize perspectives in the context of an otherworldly atmosphere.

 

Largely self-taught, Christian Butterfield (b. 1995,  Toronto, Canada) is an early-career artist working in his native Toronto. He was awarded a place at the AKIN Studio Program at MOCA  Toronto in 2019, and has exhibited previously in group shows at Corkin Gallery. In 2020,  Toronto Life  featured one of Butterfield’s works, identifying it as one of “The 10 most covetable pieces at Art Toronto.”

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Works
  • Christian Butterfield, Apology Flower #7, 2021
    Christian Butterfield, Apology Flower #7, 2021
  • Christian Butterfield, Apology Flower #2, 2020
    Christian Butterfield, Apology Flower #2, 2020
  • Christian Butterfield, Apology Flower #1, 2020
    Christian Butterfield, Apology Flower #1, 2020
  • Christian Butterfield, Apology Flower #6, 2021
    Christian Butterfield, Apology Flower #6, 2021
  • Christian Butterfield, Apology Flower #5, 2021
    Christian Butterfield, Apology Flower #5, 2021
  • Christian Butterfield, Portrait #9, 2018
    Christian Butterfield, Portrait #9, 2018
  • Christian Butterfield, Portrait #4, 2017
    Christian Butterfield, Portrait #4, 2017
  • Christian Butterfield, Cold #1, 2019
    Christian Butterfield, Cold #1, 2019
  • Christian Butterfield, Silence, 2019
    Christian Butterfield, Silence, 2019
  • Christian Butterfield, Cold #4, 2021
    Christian Butterfield, Cold #4, 2021
  • Christian Butterfield, Cold #2, 2020
    Christian Butterfield, Cold #2, 2020
  • Christian Butterfield, Randoms, 2019
    Christian Butterfield, Randoms, 2019
  • Christian Butterfield, Cold #3, 2021
    Christian Butterfield, Cold #3, 2021
  • Christian Butterfield, Cheeks III, 2019
    Christian Butterfield, Cheeks III, 2019
  • Christian Butterfield, Cheeks IV, 2019
    Christian Butterfield, Cheeks IV, 2019
  • Christian Butterfield, Cheeks I, 2018
    Christian Butterfield, Cheeks I, 2018
  • Christian Butterfield, Cheeks II, 2018
    Christian Butterfield, Cheeks II, 2018
  • Christian Butterfield, Apology Flower #8 (across the bay), 2021
    Christian Butterfield, Apology Flower #8 (across the bay), 2021
  • Christian Butterfield, Toronto, July 18, 2021, 2021
    Christian Butterfield, Toronto, July 18, 2021, 2021
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Installation Views
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: General view, Christian Butterfield, Green Light Cheeks III and IV, 2019, acrylic and collage on canvas, 60 x 96 in.
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: General view, Christian Butterfield, Green Light Cheeks III and IV, 2019, acrylic and collage on canvas, 60 x 96 in. Apology Flower #8 (across the bay), 2021, acrylic on linen, 84 x 72 in.
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: General view, Christian Butterfield, Green Light Apology Flower #8 (across the bay), 2021, acrylic on linen, 84 x 72 in....
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Christian Butterfield, Cheeks III and IV, 2019, acrylic and collage on canvas, 60 x 96 in.
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Christian Butterfield, Cheeks III and IV, 2019, acrylic and collage on canvas, 60 x 96 in. Portrait #9, 2018, acrylic...
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Portrait #9, 2018, acrylic and collage on canvas, 40 x 30 in. Portrait #4, 2017, acrylic, gold leaf and collage...
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: General view
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: General view
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: General view
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Christian Butterfield, Toronto, July 18, 2021, 2021, acrylic on linen, 60 x 90 in.
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Christian Buttterfield, Cheeks II, 2018 Cold #4, 2021, acrylic and collage on canvas, 48 x 36 in.
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: General view
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Christian Butterfield, Randoms, 2019, acrylic and collage on canvas, 48 x 36 in. Cold #2, 2020, acrylic and collage on...
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: General view
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Christian Butterfield, Apology Flower #8 (across the bay), 2021, acrylic on linen, 84 x 72 in.
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: General view
  • General view, Christian Butterfield, Green Light

    Cheeks III and IV, 2019, acrylic and collage on canvas, 60 x 96 in.

  • General view, Christian Butterfield, Green Light

    Cheeks III and IV, 2019, acrylic and collage on canvas, 60 x 96 in.

    Apology Flower #8 (across the bay), 2021, acrylic on linen, 84 x 72 in.

  • Christian Butterfield, Cheeks III and IV, 2019, acrylic and collage on canvas, 60 x 96 in.

     
  • General view

  • General view

  • General view

  • Christian Butterfield, Toronto, July 18, 2021, 2021, acrylic on linen, 60 x 90 in.

     
  • Christian Buttterfield, Cheeks II, 2018

    Cold #4, 2021, acrylic and collage on canvas, 48 x 36 in.

  • General view

  • General view

  • Christian Butterfield, Apology Flower #8 (across the bay), 2021, acrylic on linen, 84 x 72 in.

     
  • General view

General view, Christian Butterfield, Green Light

Cheeks III and IV, 2019, acrylic and collage on canvas, 60 x 96 in.

Events
  • Christian Butterfield: Green Light

    Christian Butterfield: Green Light

    Exhibition Opening 3:00 - 6:00 PM 11 Sep 2021
  • Corkin Talks: Christian Butterfield

    Corkin Talks: Christian Butterfield

    Roundtable Discussion, Saturday, September 25 at 2 pm 25 Sep 2021
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  • Christian Butterfield

    Christian Butterfield

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