Faiza Butt
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Work from her oeuvre.
“Butt’s work travels through global visual culture—drawing influence through time and space. She deftly implements the aesthetic signifiers of media, advertising and fine art to create an aesthetic that is uniquely her own, yet utterly familiar. Known for her technique of repetitive mark-making, reminiscent of both pointillism and the par dokt method of miniaturist painting, Butt manages to synthesize a multitude of references. She speaks the contemporary language of hybridity.
Often Butt’s work takes the form of light boxes. These structures are reminiscent of the neon lights and electrically lit signposts that fill large urban centers, appropriating the format of advertising. This mode of presentation similarly manages to imprint her work on the viewers mind—even after closing your eyes the image remains.
Advertising is not only referenced through form, but content as well, as many works draw upon the oversaturation of information presented in advertising. Often Butt utilizes banal imagery that aims to simultaneously confuse and elucidate the message of the central subject. In My love plays in heavenly ways the border of the work exhibits hairdryers and tennis shoes interwoven with more orthodox depictions of dragons, koi fish, and flowers. In the One series, the primary focus of the work is embedded in a delicately rendered sea of flora. For Zaveer Zangeer countless images, each with their own unique associations, are utilized to construct a single text. Butt’s artistry captures the moment when benign and violent imagery become indistinguishable.” -Justine Ludwig