Butt Johnson
Drawing Fast and Slow
Talley Dunn Gallery
March 7 – April 18, 2020
Talley Dunn Gallery is honored to present an exhibition of new drawings by Butt Johnson, Drawing Fast and Slow. The exhibition will run from Saturday, March 7 – April 18, with an opening reception on March 7 from 6 – 8 pm.
An adaptation of the title of psychologist and economist Daniel Kahneman’s book on cognitive biases and behavior, Drawing Fast and Slow is an exhibition of new drawings by Butt Johnson concerning the nature of perception, drawing, method, and time. Based on quick gestural drawings on paper, Johnson’s compositions are methodically fossilized in slower processes that are numerously layered on top of one another in ink. Some drawings are representational and look to vernacular handicrafts like needlepoint, while other compositions are exercises in process and abstraction. Upon close inspection, all the works dissolve into line, color, and mark. Johnson’s drawings are technically rigorous, visually engaging, and conceptually challenging. His multi-layered works, like his pseudonym, look to the slippery ways in which context and social structures can influence vision, attention, and aesthetics.