Dwayne Butcher’s practice centers around his identity living in the American South. Best known for conceptual series of text-based installations, videos and sculpture, he embraces and subverts the stereotypes of his native region-- and that of his own persona-- with immediacy, transparency and due sarcasm. His simple but striking compositions communicate on multiple levels, commenting on the absurdities and contradictions abounding in daily life and the “art world,” while referencing issues around gender identity, classism and politics of bodies and place with the same intent. Although brief and seductive, his messages reach much further beyond the surface gloss of our increasingly digitized world -- that of memes, hashtags, captions, and slogans. They invoke a deeper discontent around established conventions and successfully expose much more than what is seen or heard.
Dwayne Butcher was born in Arkansas and lives and works as an artist, writer, and curator in Memphis. He received his MFA from Memphis College of Art and BFA from the University of Memphis. He has exhibited work in Paris, Helsinki, Milan, Amsterdam, Washington D.C., New York City, Los Angeles and Chonqing, China, among others. Articles about his work and community art projects have been published in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Hyperallergic, Art21 and Big, Red and Shiny; his own writing has been published in the Memphis Flyer, Burnaway and BMore Art. Butcher is Director of Digital Content for Rhodes College, Memphis.
