Richard J. Butler’s alluring paintings sit between figuration and abstraction. Built from layered surfaces of grated pastel, acrylic gel and paint, they feature vessels, silhouettes and celestial bodies that seem to dissolve into expansive colour fields. His minimalist yet richly textured compositions convey a sense of balance and serenity. From afar, recognisable forms emerge while up close, intricate abstract terrains unfold, revealing both sensual and hallucinatory surfaces that explore painting’s illusionistic possibilities. Supplementing his painterly practice, Butler’s Polaroid series A Second Sun forms a growing archive of neglected flowers and plants photographed in people’s gardens during his daily winter wanderings. These Polaroids, like his paintings, possess a timeless quality and reflect on entropy—life’s inevitable decline into disorder.

Butler’s work is held in private collections internationally. He has exhibited at Hannah Barry Gallery, London; Canopy Collections, London; Bowman Sculpture, London; Masterpiece Art Fair, London; Modernity Stockholm, London; J. Hammond Projects, London; ATTIC, Brussels; Kreuzberg Pavilion, Berlin; KARST, Plymouth; Contemporary by U, Taipei. In 2025, Canopy Collections curated his first solo exhibition in the UK, titled Richard J. Butler: Naxos.