| Butt Johnson’s work is obsessive to a degree that could overcome even our most severe expectations of an artist confined solely to his work. His elaborately detailed ballpoint pen drawings, some of which have taken as many as two years to complete, combine complex ornamentation from a range of historical repositories with various cultural iconographies; some recent and some more antiquated, but together forming a compounded visual language with powerful and current significance. |  |
Butt Johnson’s Meticulous Ballpoint Hybrids – Alex Dodge
Butt Johnson’s work is obsessive to a degree that could overcome even our most severe expectations of an artist confined solely to his work. His elaborately detailed ballpoint pen drawings, some of which have taken as many as two years to complete, combine complex ornamentation from a range of historical repositories with various cultural iconographies; some recent and some more antiquated, but together forming a compounded visual language with powerful and current significance. Such subjects as the popular “SETI” screensaver (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) within the romantic context of unrequited love and the menagerie of contemporary writers and historical figures all sharing the name “Dave” (Postmodern Daves) are among the diverse themes in Johnson’s work. Other cultural references specific to the artist’s generation, such as Super Mario Bros., are combined with art historical motifs. In recent work, Johnson has focused on the grim but again intensely detailed renderings of the aftermath of car bombs, presumably in the Middle East. These twisted and charred remains of automotive steel have a floral quality not unlike the delicate and withered flower petals so often found ensconced in the repeating webs of hybrid Islamic patterning.
