Eric Butcher

Born in Singapore in 1974, Eric Butcher studied philosophy at Cambridge University and fine art at Wimbledon School of Art, London. He has exhibited extensively in the UK and internationally with shows in Germany, Italy, Australia and the USA. He has received awards from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Arts Council, England. He has initiated a number of curatorial projects such as emission and Definite Article in the UK and USA, and his work features in several publications.

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Butcher’s work is an attempt at the selective articulation of the surfaces of aluminium structures through the use of paint and resin. It is made through a process governed by specific rules. A thin transparent monochrome is spread across the surface of the aluminium and then stripped off, using a variety of blades and instruments drawn across the surface. This procedure is then repeated, slowly building up an accumulation of residues.

The outcome is determined largely by the physical characteristics of the support; the imperfections of the metal surface, the burr of its edge; or shifts in the consistency of the paint/resin mix, or the build up along the edge of the blade as it strips the surface bare. Each tiny imperfection is amplified by the process of stripping, leaving a ridge of denser colour to register its presence; a ‘register of failure’ if you will. The finished piece is an accumulation of what the artist has learnt about that particular piece of metal through successive applications and subtractions.

Roger Ackling