Mark Butler

Mark makes drawn and sculptural pieces inspired by walks taken near to his home. Each journey, and each resulting piece, highlights something different, and together they reflect on his ongoing experiences and relationship with his local area.

Although he uses metal in his sculptures - a markedly permanent material - he harnesses chance by using wood or thin wax originals in his castings to create imperfect and fractured pieces, mirroring the impermanence and vulnerability of the environment around him.

Maps are a significant part of the way he experiences the landscape: visualising where he want to go, navigating through it, recording his journeys. For Mark, maps invoke memories – of past walks and past experiences. At the same time they provide the means to plan new walks, or re-imagine old ones. Maps tie this series together and he uses their universal language to draw viewers in and invite them to explore the work.

Unfolding a map to begin planning a new adventure, discovering ‘treasures’ along a walk, recalling memories of previous journeys, imagining the history of an area, taking notice of environmental issues. All of these are subjects explored in Mark's work.