Drawing and writing form the foundation of my studio practice. In 2016, I became fascinated with drawing on my phone, posting a digital sketch on Instagram each day. Over time, after creating more than a thousand drawings, the geometric language that emerged became the basis for my paintings. Although the drawings are no longer posted on Instagram, a selection can be seen here. My work is characterized by a tendency toward Casualism, a term I coined in an article published in The Brooklyn Rail to describe an approach to painting that values imperfection, incompleteness, and process over polished forms.
While I was a professor at Eastern Connecticut State University (2000-13), I was drawn to the intersection of art, writing, and emerging digital platforms. I started an online studio project called Two Coats of Paint, which has grown into an award-winning blogazine dedicated to painting.
At its core, my practice is driven by a deep curiosity about the mysterious interplay between emotion, intellect, and the act of painting itself.
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Sharon Butler (b. 1959, New London, Connecticut) moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, after earning degrees at Tufts University (BA), Massachusetts College of Art, (BFA), and the University of Connecticut (MFA). She has held solo exhibitions in NYC at Jennifer Baahng Gallery, Theodore Gallery, Pocket Utopia, and Central Fine Arts; in Connecticut at Slater Memorial Museum, University of Connecticut, Real Art Ways, and Furnace Art on Paper Archive; in Seattle at SEASON. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Brooklyn Rail, Hyperallergic, artcritical, The New Criterion, and New York Magazine. She has received awards from Creative Capital and the Warhol Foundation, Yaddo, Connecticut Commission on the Arts, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
She lives and works in Long Island City, Queens.
CV of Exhibitions and awards
CV of Writing and other projects
Image: In the studio at 20 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY, December 2024. Photo credit: Adriane Quinlan, Curbed/New York Magazine