Ben Butler
Great Water
Great Water evokes the majesty of the surface of Lake Michigan. Made from thousands of pieces of wood cut into intricate abstract shapes and painted to evoke the image of light playing off the surface of the water.
“I grew up on Lake Michigan and have vivid memories of sailing and being at the lake when I was a kid, so creating something that honors this amazing ocean of fresh water is special to me.” Butler said. “It is such an iconic body of water, but having moved away from it I sort of forgot the impact it has on people who see it for the first time. For people who haven’t seen the Great Lakes, whatever vision people have of a lake, they are something entirely different.”
The individually carved wood pieces are configured into a jigsaw like puzzle of panels. The panels are all made of five layers, each a different species of tree with different tones and textures. The lower two levels are stained a cool blue to represent deep water, while the top three layers use the woods natural tones to mimic the play of sunlight on the lakes surface.
The installation is bold and commanding yet also inspires contemplation and rewards slow looking at many different distances and angles.
“I was inspired by the space in Baird Center where the piece is located,” Butler said. “So much of my work will shift how it reads based on your proximity or vantage point. There is so much space in the hall that I knew right away that I had the opportunity to do something enormous. I love how it reads one way from 150 feet away and then it grows in complexity and texture as you approach it.”
About Ben Butler
Ben Butler is a sculptor and public artist working in Memphis, Tennessee, and Quoque, New York. He was raised in Chicago, IL. Butler constructs immersive works that envelops the viewer. According to Butler, his work rarely begins with drawings or preconceived images.
“I tend to approach materials directly, playing for an extended period, and discovering previously unforeseen possibilities for a system of construction. That system then dictates the form, and that form is necessarily more interesting than any preconception I might have conjured from the beginning.”
Butler discovered he was an artist in college and thanks to the suggestions of a couple of early mentors focused on sculpture. He most enjoys working with wood because it is a warm organic material but has branched out into using steel, concrete and acrylic in his commissioned public art pieces depending on the environment where the installation will live.
In addition to showing his work extensively in gallery and museum exhibitions, he has produced commissioned sculptures, murals, and installations in a range of media for hotels, hospitals, parks, and other public spaces nationally, including the Hyatt Regency Chicago, Portland International Airport, and Renasant Convention Center in Memphis, among many others.
He is the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Individual Artist Grant and numerous fellowships at residency programs including the MacDowell Colony, The Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, and the Ucross Foundation. He currently shows at John Davis Gallery in Hudson, New York. Butler received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his BA from Bowdoin College.
Q&A with Ben Butler
