DWAYNE BUTCHER - Art made with a Ring
PAUL BEHNKE - Sallynoogin Drawings
Jeanine Jablonski and Cedar Lorca Nordbye, Curators
Both artists are presenting new work inspired by their recent life experiences. Behnke has recently returned from a three-month stay in Dublin where the images and ideas for the Sallynoggin Drawings were engendered and the work was completed. Butcher’s works were all created since his marriage in fall 2006, hence Art Made With a Ring, and explore changes in the artist’s life and artistic direction.
Paul Behnke was born in 1965, in Memphis, TN. He received a B.F.A. in painting from the Memphis College of Art in 1999 and is currently living and working in St. Augustine, FL. Behnke’s work is represented by The Hallward in Dublin, Ireland and Zeitgeist Gallery in Nashville, TN.
Behnke’s Sallynoggin Drawings were begun with the intention that they would be soundly connected to a specific location and time. However, as the images progressed from notebook jottings of experience, environment and memory, to more complete drawings, their meanings began a steady shift from specific reactions to broad allusions. The finished works signify the faulty concepts of security, place and distance and give form to the rituals and obsessions that sprout from these notions.
Butcher has shown his minimalist influenced and abstract expressionist based work in most galleries and alternative spaces in Memphis, TN, as well as in Dallas, TX, Carbondale, IL, Jackson, TN, Nashville, TN, Little Rock, AR, and Jonesboro, AR. Butcher has curated guerrilla shows in non-traditional spaces such as; abandoned apartment buildings, old warehouse spaces, backyards, and established the “world’s smallest gallery” at the P and H Café. Butcher is the curator of Caseworks, an exhibition space for new and emerging artists, with openings that run in conjunction with the Art Museum at the University of Memphis. Butcher is the director and co-founder of Artmemphis.net, an artist registry and art related calendar serving the Mid-South.
Art Made With a Ring encompasses new work Butcher has created since being married in October 2006. While his style has not changed significantly, his approach and process have changed substantially.