Paul Butler : Selections & Departures

Readymade (Flame), 2011 Archival digital print, unique 73.5 x 37.5" / 187 x 95cm	Readymade (Flower 4), 2006 Collage and correction tape 14.25 x 11" / 36 x 28cm	Installation view (left to right) Gallery Intervention (2), 2010 Cut-out archival digital inkjet print dry-mounted to Plexiglas, unique 61.5 x 41.5” / 156 x 105.5cm What’s Within, 2010 (ongoing series) Collage 14.25 x 11.75” / 36 x 30 cm each Readymade (Flame), 2011 Archival digital print, unique 73.5 x 37.5” / 187 x 95 cm
Installation view, Difference Between Difference Between, #7, #8, #9, 2011 Serigraph on wood 24.5 x 24.5” / 62.5 x 62.5 cm Printed by Martha Street Studio, Winnipeg	Introspection, 2011 Archival inkjet print on vinyl mounted on Plexiglas 30 x 17” / 76 x 43 cm	What's Within (Fence), 2010 Collage 14.25 x 11.75” / 36 x 30 cm

Opening reception Saturday, May 7 from 4 to 6 PM
Artist in attendance

Paul Butler’s art is not defined by medium, nor is his practice primarily studio based. Since 1998 he has hosted the internationally renowned Collage Party, a travelling experimental studio he devised as a forum for ideas, inspiration, and connections with a wide range of participants. Dozens of these events have been held across North America and Europe in public museums, commercial galleries, schools, and non-profit art centres. The informal sharing of ideas experienced at Collage Parties led to Butler’s subsequent interest in alternative pedagogies. In 2008 he organized the residency Reverse Pedagogy at The Banff Centre.

This exhibition is a ‘collage’ of recent works developed through Butler’s nomadic activities over the past decade that manifest how working in an intense event context alongside other artists has contributed to his individual practice. Many of Butler’s collages are ‘readymades’ created from scraps rescued from the collage party floor; other works were conceived from original sketches produced during collage parties.

The creative and conceptual basis of Paul Butler’s work encompasses hosting the Collage Party and directing The Other Gallery - a nomadic commercial gallery focused on overlooked artists’ practices, established in 2001. Butler has exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto; White Columns, New York; and Creative Growth Art Centre, Oakland. In June he will be featured in the exhibition “My Winnipeg” at La Maison Rouge in Paris.