Meditative Math
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Ben Butler’s two large sculptures and seven drawings at Zg are deeply meditative, relying on the mindful, quiet repetition and symmetry of a mandala–an aid to contemplation that frees the mind from everyday concerns. Nest, occupying much of the floor in Zg’s main gallery, is composed of 11 labyrinthine frames in unfinished poplar. The wooden bars that form each frame are fastened together with glue and nails to create an openwork shape like an elongated turtle shell or seedpod. Each such frame nestles inside another that’s slightly larger. The other sculpture, A Shaker Melody, is a stack of boxes made of unfinished wood. Butler’s 2003 show at Zg included three sculptures of tilted tables, and he’s also made a piece called Nesting Barn, which was similar to Nest but consisted of barn shapes. He says he began to find specific references superfluous because what he was really interested in was “something that can evoke many processes, from human construction to natural growth.”
Butler’s abstract drawings are even more freeing to the mind than his sculptures. During a residency in Vermont last year, he was working on a series of black-and-white drawings. He didn’t really know where to take the series, but after accidentally spilling coffee on a study he was doing, he thought that the stains added “a kind of warmth.” The next day he began using the tea he was drinking, applying it with a brush. Finding he couldn’t get any but the lightest tones, he started mixing black ink into the tea to produce deeper shades. “Suddenly these very dry, systematic drawings became a little more engaging,” he says. All seven of the drawings at Zg were made with ink and tea.
When: Through February 5
