BUTCH ANTHONY

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work strongly reflects the influences of my upbringing in the deep rural South. It illustrates an abiding interest that I’ve had since childhood in the processes of nature and the inner-connectiveness of the many aspects of the natural environment. My university training was in biology. I have always been fascinated and deeply moved by the wonders of nature, and ever since the youngest years of my life I have spent countless hours and days studying my natural surroundings. Through that, I developed a uniquely personal way of categorizing and illustrating the processes and components of life -- "Intertwangleism."

Inter = to mix

twangle = a distinctive way of speaking, thinking, behaving, assessing

ism = a theory

To clarify the underlying elements of Intertwangleism, I break the physical forms of nature into the following parts: bones, veins, muscles, skin, clothes or covering, shadow, spirit, and movement. The following is a quote from a statement that was written a few years ago for my solo exhibition at the Black Rat Project in London, England.

“Butch Anthony is an artist not easily defined. He collects bizarre objects and transforms them into strangely beautiful art.”

At first, as a youngster, I started drawing pictures of local characters who lived around my home town of Seale, Alabama. I drew portraits of them on cardboard or on other readilyavailable materials. Then, as time went by and more and more people became interestedin my work, I began to make increasingly elaborate pieces, incorporating various elementsand materials - most of which were bits and pieces that others had simplydiscarded as trash.

Soon I was being visited by scores of other artists,museum curators, and art collectors who came from all around the Southand beyond. Many of them simply wanted to meet me while others wanted to purchase my work. I began to fully develop my own personal style and eventually that evolved into Intertwangelism. - Butch Anthony