A prominent Melbourne critic has recently written...
"Local artist, Ben Butcher, has (rather unfairly) been afforded the misleading moniker, "Australia's Worst Artist". This title does little justice to the scope and aesthetic ambition exemplified in Butcher's latest work, "Coach Savage And Her Unicorns".
Butcher thrusts a blended indoor/outdoor scenario at the viewer, as a black leather-clad Cash Savage, The Unicorn's coach, has her minions literally chained to her, just as she (and by proxy, the team) are connected by invisible tendrils to the bar itself.
Team supporters will recognise Mapo's brilliant mark over the head of Old Bar figurehead, Joel Morrison; whilst a lonely figure facing the bar seems somehow to be psychically pulled, guitar-in-hand, towards the footy oval, along with the viewer's eye. Amidst all this, the artist (presumably) wields a beer and bat, as if momentarily forgetting the nature of the drunken game being celebrated by his team-mates, in a veritable maelstrom of strong, primary colours. A tiny penguin divides the frame in the foreground, as if to affirm what followers of Butcher's art have long suspected - forget about Australia, Ben Butcher is quite possibly the Worst Artist in the World! And more power to him, and the pub football team he represents." - Matt Gleeson
This painting will be available for viewing and sale from 7pm, Tuesday 24th March at the Old Bar Gallery, 74 Johnston Street Fitzroy, Vic, Australia.
