John Butler - The Story so Far 2023

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The title of this show encompasses not only a substantial array of recent paintings and sculptures, but the inclusion of what John regards as sentinel works from his journey as an artist.

He might alternatively have called it The Prodigal Returns, referencing his early years in Glebe and surrounds from 1968-77, when he studied Medicine at Sydney Uni, then worked at RPAH, Marrickville and Lewisham Hospitals. Now living on the Central Coast, and for six years building a studio home in the Tasmanian wilderness, he recently retraced his steps around the familiar haunts of the Inner West and sketched some of the neighbourhood dogs doing the same.

The paintings cover a range of themes, many referencing John's love of, and frequent immersion in, wild places. Nature is his muse but his intrigue with the human condition and a fertile imagination sees rivers and wild ocean shores hang side by side with some urban pets and broken musical instruments resurrected in landscapes and myths. Refugees in detention are also addressed in paintings and sculpture.