Gavin Butt (born 1967) is a writer and academic based in Brighton, UK
Overview
Gavin Butt is a transdisciplinary scholar working across the areas of performance studies, queer studies, visual culture, and popular music. He received his PhD from the
University of Leeds
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
in 1998 with the dissertation ''Men on the Threshold: The Making and Unmaking of the Sexual Subject in American Art 1948-1965'', later revised and published in 2005 under the title ''Between You and Me: Queer Disclosures in the New York Art World 1948-1963'' by
Duke University Press
Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 Du ...
. In 2004 Butt edited the much praised anthology ''After Criticism - New Approaches to Art and Performance''. Here, as in his more recent work on cultural seriousness, he argues for the importance of the paradoxical: criticism that works against the
doxa
Doxa (; from verb ) Liddell, Henry George, and Robert Scott. 1940.δοκέω" In ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', edited by H. S. Jones and R. McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. – via Perseus Project. is a common belief or popular opinion. In cla ...
of
received wisdom. Butt has written extensively on artists such as
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
,
Larry Rivers
Larry Rivers (born Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg) (1923 – 2002) was an American artist, musician, filmmaker, and occasional actor. Considered by many scholars to be the "Godfather" and "Grandfather" of Pop art, he was one of the first artists ...
,
Joe Brainard,
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...
, as well as performance artists such as
Kiki and Herb
Kiki and Herb ( Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman) are an American drag cabaret duo. Bond portrays Kiki DuRane, an aging, alcoholic, female lounge singer. Mellman portrays her gay, male piano accompanist, known only as "Herb."
Despite Bond and M ...
,
Oreet Ashery, and
David Hoyle.
In 2013 he made his first feature length documentary film, co-directed with journalist Ben Walters. This is Not a Dream explores artist’s DIY use of moving image technology including original interviews with Vaginal Davis, Dara Birnbaum, David Hoyle, Kalup Linzy, Holestar, Nao Bustamante, Dickie Beau and others. Butt was also co-director of Performance Matters (2009-2013), a creative research project which brought together artists, curators, activists, performance organizers, and academics to investigate the cultural value of performance.
In ''No Machos or Pop Stars: When the Leeds Art Experiment went Punk,'
Duke University Press, (2022) "Gavin Butt tells the fascinating story of the post-punk scene in Leeds, showing how England’s state-funded education policy brought together art students from different social classes to create a fertile ground for musical experimentation. Drawing on extensive interviews with band members, their associates, and teachers, Butt details the groups who wanted to dismantle both art world and music industry hierarchies by making it possible to dance to their art. Their stories reveal the subversive influence of art school in a regional music scene of lasting international significance."
Butt is currently Professor of Fine Art at Northumbria University, Newcastle.
Bibliography
Books
* ed. ''After Criticism: New Approaches to Art and Performance'', Blackwell Publishing, 2004.
*''Between You and Me: Queer Disclosures in the New York Art World'', Duke University Press, 2005.
*with Irit Rogoff, ''Visual Cultures as Seriousness'', ed. Jorella Andrews, Sternberg Press, 2013.
*ed., with
Kodwo Eshun and
Mark Fisher (theorist). ''Post-Punk Then and Now'',
Repeater Books
Repeater Books is a publishing imprint based in London, founded in 2014 by Tariq Goddard and Mark Fisher, formerly the founders of radical publishers Zero Books, along with Etan Ilfeld, Tamar Shlaim, Alex Niven and Matteo Mandarini.
Formation
...
, 2016.
*''No Machos or Pop Stars: When the Leeds Art Experiment went Punk,'
Duke University Press, 2022
Articles
* ‘Hoyle’s Humility’, (interview with David Hoyle), in ''Dance Theatre Journal'', Vol. 23, No. 1, 2008.
* ‘Should We Take Performance Seriously?’, in Oreet Ashery, ''Dancing with Men'', 2008.
* ‘How I Died For Kiki and Herb’, in Henry Rogers (ed.), ''The Art of Queering in Art'', Article Press, 2007.
* ‘Stop that Acting! Performance and Authenticity in Shirley Clarke’s Portrait of Jason’, in Kobena Mercer (ed.), ''Pop Art and Vernacular Cultures'', MIT Press / InIVA, 2007.
* ‘Joe Brainard’s Queer Seriousness, or, How to Make Fun Out of the Avant-Garde’, in David Hopkins (ed.), ''Neo-Avant-Garde'', Rodopi Press, 2006.
* ‘Scholarly Flirtations’, in Angelika Nollert, Irit Rogoff, Bart de Baere, Yilmaz Dziewior, Charles Esche, Kerstin Niemann und Dieter Roelstraete (eds.), ''A.C.A.D.E.M.Y'', Revolver 2006.
* ‘America and its Discontents: Art and Politics 1945-1960’, in Amelia Jones (ed.), ''Contemporary Art Since 1945'', Blackwell, 2006.
* ‘Happenings in History, or, The Epistemology of the Memoir’, Oxford Art Journal, Vol. 24, No. 2, 2001.
Interviews
Mathias Danbolt
in ''Trikster - Nordic Queer Journal'' #3, 2009.
References
External links
Gavinbutt.comGavin Butt's staff page at the University of NorthumbriaHomepage for the research project Performance Matters
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butt, Gavin
British art critics
Living people
1967 births