'Maggie with Helmet'
2012
Oil on canvas
Verso: Hand signed and dated on canvas.
Dimensions: 24" h x 20" w. Frame: 25.5" h 21.5" w
Provenance: Property of a Southampton, NY collection
Richard Butler (Post-war and Contemporary artist) studied painting at the Epsom School of Art and Design (now University for the Creative Arts). In school he was exposed to radical developments taking hold in the artworld including Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, David Hockney and Francis Bacon and the emerging British pop art of Richard Hamilton and Peter Blake. He later turning to silkscreen printmaking. But like many famous rockers, from Keith Richards and Roger Waters to Tupac Shakur and Lady Gaga, Butler began making music in art school, and art was a passion that never went away. Shortly after graduating from the art school, in 1977, Richard Butler became a founder and singer/songwriter for the British post-punk / new wave rock and roll band "The Psychedelic Furs". Quickly gaining commercial success, his musical career kept him away from painting throughout the 80s and the 90s. In early 2000s, Richard Butler returned to painting and started exhibiting his art in the U.S. and Europe. He prefers to call himself a painter who sings, rather than a singer who paints. He was influenced by Anselm Kiefer and Francesco Clemente and became friends with Julian Schnabel. With his daughter, Maggie Mozart Butler, as his muse, he produces expressionistic portraits of pensive female subjects, who serve as ciphers for himself. As he describes, “In a way I think all of my paintings are self-portraits in that, though the face I am painting may not be my own, the feeling I get back from the painting is certainly an important element of my own psyche.” His work is a sort of dark moody expressionism with nods towards Lucien Freud. He lives and works in Connecticut. He has had solo exhibitions in New York City, Miami and Florence, Italy. One of his works, Girl with a Map, has been used as a CD's cover art.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2020 Richard Butler: Amnesiac Hostess, Waltman Ortega Fine Art, Miami, Florida, USA
2017 101/EXHIBIT, La Peer Drive, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
2015 naturalhistory ,Freight+Volume (Allen St.) ,Lower East Side, New York, USA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 Summer Sale, Galerie Olivier Waltman, Paris Saint-Germain, 6e, Paris, France
The Rhythm. Vibratory Shock of Being, Galerie Olivier Waltman, Paris Marais...
Category
2010s Expressionist Portrait Paintings
