Louise Butler's investigations of her surrounding landscape, from her locality, to lands further a field, makes her more aware of the human interventions that are marking the landscape. The idea that nature has become mediated by tourist attractions, explaining where the best places to experience nature from, thus turning the wilderness into an object to be consumed, interests Louise also. The more controlling human presence telling us what we should want from nature, the more we want the pure untouched 'original' version of nature. Louise's practice flows easily between 2D and 3D work, with painting at the foreground, to create her idealised places of escape. Here the artificial blend with the organic in sublime and uncanny ways. This blurring of the real is created through various techniques of pouring and allowing the paint to bleed on the surface of the canvas. Intimate memories of landscapes and paint become one to form Louise's dreamlike worlds. Mountains and islands form the main body of imagery within the paintings, buildings and dwellings are set in these idealistic locations making them an ideal place for an escapist's dreams. These are not all utopias though; people invade the images exploring the Louise's personal landscapes just as they would real ones. Louise is constantly re-inventing and experimenting with new ways to convey her ideas. Louise Butler graduated N.C.A.D. in 2006 and has been showing regularly in and around Ireland over the last few years. She lives and works in Dublin. |