{"id":44623,"date":"2020-01-21T16:39:38","date_gmt":"2020-01-21T21:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=44623"},"modified":"2020-01-21T16:53:33","modified_gmt":"2020-01-21T21:53:33","slug":"jack-butlers-fatemaps-at-the-red-head-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=44623","title":{"rendered":"Jack Butler\u2019s Fatemaps at the Red Head Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jack Butler\u2019s Fatemaps<\/em>\nexhibited at the Red Head Gallery features a collection of performative\ninstallation drawings and digital prints demonstrating his highly\ncollaborative, science-driven, cross-cultural interdisciplinary practice as a\nvisual artist with a foundation in medical research emphasizing in human\nembryogenesis. The scientific meaning of fate mapping in human biology refers\nto the developmental stages of the embryo in the production of specific tissues\nand structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fatemaps<\/em> represents a collection of Butler\u2019s works from\nthree distinctive installations spanning his career, Genesis<\/em> (1982), The Body as\nCamera<\/em> (1993), and Vortex<\/em> (2019),\nand in which Butler expands upon paradigms of transformation, symbolic and\ndiagrammatic reductions, the Skin Ego, the human biology and developmental\nresearch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The corner installation Genesis is an aggregate of\ndrawings in which Butler follows \u201can expressive aesthetic trajectory away from\nmy scientific research practice as a medical model builder in human\nembryological development.\u201d Focusing on drawing images and symbols, these\nshapes undergo a transformative metamorphosis similar in nature to the\nembryological stages of development of mammalian and aquatic species and\nrepresented on a collage space or mural-like \u2018tapestry\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Genesis<\/em>, 1982-2019, gouache on cut\/torn Okawara paper, 12 x 12 feet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Butler\u2019s The Body as Camera<\/em> prints exhibited are selected from a collection of drawings representing diagrammatic reductions of embryological research, a distinctive theoretical approach that focuses on drawings on the body rather than of the body. These prints produced in collaboration with other visual artists approaches \u201cissues of identity and mimicry, invoking the theory of The Skin Ego \u2013 the bodily ego experienced on the skin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Body as Camera Sketchbook<\/em>, 1993. Dennis W. (left) & Butler (right), digital print from sketchbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Body as Camera Sketchbook<\/em>, 1993. Sex is encoded in the Genes.digital print from sketchbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Body as Camera Sketchbook<\/em>, 1993, Drawings and polaroid images of embryological research drawn onto the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Butler\u2019s most\nrecent material exhibited at the Red Head Gallery includes installations of the\nVortex that \u201cenacts the biological pull into being, a new life, and the drive\nto death.\u201d The diptych Drawing the Vortex<\/em>\n(2019) demonstrates a convergence between two stylistically distinctive\npresentations of the vortex: the first (at left), is Butler\u2019s representation of\nlife and death (the vortex) over a print of sexual divergence during the\nembryological development process, and the second is Johannes Zits\u2019 performance\nin studio creating a vortex in white sand onto the black floor in the nude. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Drawing the Vortex<\/em>, 2019, diptych. gouache over woodcut print.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Butler\u2019s Fatemaps<\/em> is an expansive collection of\nwork derived from his scientific interests, visual artistry and collaboration\nwith community. His interdisciplinary method as a visual artist continues to\nshape our perception of human biological life and death cycles through the\nmedium of performative drawings and representations of medical models. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Text and photo: Keren Sedmina<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Exhibition information: January 2 \u2013 25, 2020, The Red Head Gallery, 401 Richmond Street West. Gallery hours: Wed \u2013 Sat: 12 \u2013 5pm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Keren Sedmina<\/strong><\/p>\n

His interdisciplinary method as a visual artist continues to shape our perception of human biological life and death cycles through the medium of performative drawings and representations of medical models. <\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,222],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-keren-sedmina"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44623"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44628,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44623\/revisions\/44628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}