COLLAGE ON VIEW
Inside/Out
at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art in Charleston, South Carolina, USA
January 17-February 29 2020
Curator-led Tour: February 27, 6PM
Artist Talk: February 29, 2PM
As a multi-faceted self-taught artist, Butch Anthony creates works that investigate and appropriate images from the American vernacular. His practice includes painting X-ray like skeletons on top of antique portraits in elaborate, often gilded frames.
This exhibition, consisting of new images, assemblages, and installations created specifically for the gallery, brings together several of Anthony’s creative explorations over the past few years. Singular portraits, assemblage objects, and installations combine to create a working model of the inside of Anthony’s mind.
2020
Courtesy of the artist.
Though Anthony’s work emanates from the folk art or vernacular idiom, his works are unmistakably original in concept and execution. The term “folk art” is generally applied to traditional media such as wood carving, quiltmaking, functional pottery, weaving–items that are passed down from generation to generation. Anthony’s work often has a charming immediacy because of the familiarity of the selected materials, yet this surface appeal is often undermined by the conceptual premise. Some images evince a biting sarcasm or ironic wit, while others poke fun at our consumerist society. There are several layers of meaning embedded in Anthony’s work. For a few of the pieces in this exhibition, the artist hired a Chinese painter to create 5 x 7-foot enlargements of appropriated images he sent. Anthony then reworks the surface of these commissioned paintings, melding appropriation and global commerce with insouciant graffiti-like embellishments. Now, many of these paintings become more elaborate with the addition of bones, artifacts, and shadow boxes that amplify the visual and conceptual presence of the piece.
As a sculptor, Anthony’s work often employs the detritus of our disposable society. He has become adept at creating imaginative combinations that subtly comment on the human condition. These assemblages then gain strength by being seen in the context of his other works, creating a kind of chain reaction that reinforces his primary message.
2020
Courtesy of the artist.
About the artist:
Butch Anthony is a multi-faceted self-taught artist from Seale, Alabama. At fourteen he was building birdhouses and stuffing his own taxidermy. His first building, a little log cabin on his grandfather’s farm, would eventually become his shop. He has spent decades building the Museum of Wonder, a walk-through cabinet of curiosities. Started in the 1970s as Butch’s taxidermy shop and artifact room, the Museum of Wonder is now filled with art, artifacts, and antiques including the world’s largest gallstone. Butch also hosts the Possum Trot Auction, a weekly junk and art auction on his 80-acre parcel of land in Seale, Alabama. In addition to making and selling art, building bizarre roadside attractions, and collecting found objects to incorporate into his own artwork, Butch contributes to Auburn University’s Rural Studio design + build program.
(adapted from the gallery’s press materials)
INFORMATION
Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art
161 Calhoun Street
Charleston, South Carolina 29401 USA
(843) 953-4422
Hours:
Monday-Wednesday, 11AM-4PM
Thursday, 11AM-7PM
Friday-Saturday, 11AM-4PM