Former recipient of the now-defunct Itchiball Prize for Bad Art Ben Butcher once again puts two-dollar-shop paintbrush to hard-rubbish-scavenged canvas in his typically enthusiastic style capturing mundane and glorious moments, weird dreams, and re-imagined barroom anecdotes.
A retired Black Caviar earns some petty cash by acting as a jousting horse at a medieval fair while Ned Kelly sells balloons to kids.
Vladimir Putin joins Ivan The Terrible in throwing dogs and a spare dolphin from the Kremlin tower at Pussy Riot.
Julian Assange and his schoolyard friend Paul Cregan using tractor tyres as an army tank and a stick as a cannon.
Oh, and of course there are unicorns and rainbows.
After selling out his 2013 exhibition at the Old Bar gallery, Butcher has returned with a new collection of works fusing his trademark colour palette and unique perspective in a painstakingly-rendered display of exuberant jouissance. Butcher is a Melbourne musician, photographer, and teacher whose work has been described as 'like Sidney Nolan on acid' and addresses questions like 'what does God do in his spare time?' and “how come Tolstoy spent his whole life looking for the secret of universal happiness while David Walsh managed to find it quite quickly?”
Ben Butcher’s Art Show can be viewed at the upstairs gallery at The Old Bar (74-76 Johnston Street, Fitzroy) for a strictly limited time.
Opens : 6pm, Tuesday 28th June
Final Day: Saturday 2nd July
All enquiries, contact Ben
p. 0408 762461
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