Christian Butterfield

Christian Butterfield works at the intersection of memory, representation, and eroticism in his experimental paintings. The artist uses the history of traditional portraiture and avant-garde movements to create compositions often focused on a main character—stories of desire, love, and pardon.

Butterfield’s work links personal experiences to concurrent events in the media as an act of catharsis, allowing him to work through past sentiments and new experiences. Often the artist incorporates collage elements into his compositions. Time magazine is used as a source to comment on contemporary society, often with humor or sarcasm.

In the body of work Apology Flowers, the artist attempts to reconcile his past relationships with former friends, lovers, and acquaintances. His work offers a mirror for us to reflect on the common anxieties and experiences of navigating and maintaining relationships.

His most recent paintings mark a departure from collage and Dada influences that characterize Butterfield’s earlier work. Anchored by the surrealist blooms of his mixed media Apology Flowers, these canvases exhibit a sophisticated handling of paint. Mindful depictions of light, sprouting from multiple directions, destabilize perspectives and create an otherworldly atmosphere.

Christian Butterfield, mainly self-taught, was awarded a place in the School of Visual Arts Residency Program, Fine Arts: Contemporary Practices, New York City in June 2022. In 2018, he held a residency at the AKIN Studio Program at the Musuem of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Toronto. Corkin Gallery presented his inaugural solo exhibition, Green Light, in September 2021. His work has been included in a number of group shows at Corkin Gallery, including presentations at Art Toronto. Butterfield’s work was featured in Toronto Life in 2020 as one of the most covetable pieces of the year.