ZAGORO MOJA
Ante Tešija
Hrvoje Bubić; JOHN BUTLER INTERVIEW
Hrvoje Bubić
John Butler je engleski vizualni umjetnik i animator, s adresom u Parizu. Za Solin Live govori o svome radu, filmovima, umjetnicima s kojima je sve surađivao
1. To begin with, can you introduce yourself to our readers and say something about yourself?
Hi I’m John, an artist from the West Midlands in the UK. I live in Paris, I didn’t know what an avocado was until I was 26 and I’m yet to break a bone.
2. You are a visual artist. What motivated you to do it and can you tell us something about it?
I’m motivated by chronic nostalgia and beauty, though my work often leans into darker themes of selfishness and human routine. I studied a largely process based illustration course in Bristol but pivoted into animation and conceptual work during my second year. Whilst I enjoy process for process’ sake, I found I could push my allegorical instincts further outside of illustration. I enjoy building a world and using that world to tell a story and create an atmosphere. My most recent residency and project was carefully animated over 5 months at the community centre ‘Le Shakirail’ in Paris. The film is set in the ruins of an imagined city, a huge maquette built from paper cutouts. My studio was a graveyard for second hand architecture and history books.
3. Your field is film and animation, of which I would like to mention the film I Was Gone Forever. Could you tell us more about your field as well as the film?
My work often takes the form of an animated video & sound installation. I avoid language, instead focusing on imagery and expansive soundscapes. Stop frame animation is a tangible, tactile medium where anything can be brought to life, for example mine and Joseph Gower’s film ‘Their Meaningless Pantomime’ saw us painstakingly sewing one hair at a time through eggs and sausages in a full English breakfast scene. On the other hand I write & edit short films and documentaries of varying subject matters, but the aim is to let the characters tell the story and find a truth and honesty. The film you mentioned, ‘I Was Gone Forever’, is a good mixture of my methodologies, in fact it was originally storyboarded as a stop frame animation. However on arriving in Albania I took the opportunity to film in the open space of Tulla Culture Center, an important contemporary art gallery in the middle of Tirana. Therefore the live action film is dotted with animation. We follow two characters, played by myself and Bianka Xhaferri, who tread the perpetual imbalance in our relationships and our destructive cycles of behaviour. The title plays with the meaninglessness of our meetings and passings, the full name being (I don’t know why, but) I was Gone Forever. Most of the audio was recorded in Germia National park in Kosovo as l wanted natural reverb to reinforce the aesthetic nothingness the characters hang in.
4. Together with Peter Butler and Booker Woodford, you are a member of the production company Little Balloon. Tell us how you met and came up with the idea to start a production company?
Booker, Peter and myself have been working together for well over 10 years. Peter and I are in fact brothers, and Booker studied with Peter at the University of Westminster, London. Little Balloon started life organically as a group of friends, family and artists congregating once a year to make surreal black comedies, our short deadlines and zero budgets often had us oscillating somewhere between laughing and driving one another insane. On top of that the shoots generally required us to be out in a blustery English field or forest in the middle of winter, but our mutual love of film and coffee saw us through. As the years have passed we’ve naturally branched into feature film (Folklore’s Intimates) and comedy series (World of Beercraft, Clarke Cable Film Review Report), now we are in pre production for a UK based documentary examining modern masculinity and mental health, we will be going into full production in 2023.
5. You collaborate with artists all over the world, so you have had projects in various cities such as New York, Amsterdam, Tirana. Could you tell us more about these collaborations, as well as the artists themselves?
Collaboration is an integral part of my creative process and has been for a long time. Being part of a Chris Smith documentary in New York was a brilliant experience, as was opening “22” in Tirana, a joint show with painter and architect Alda Lika. In late November we’ll finally be exhibiting ’Reverse Parking’ in Amsterdam. ‘Reverse Parking’ is a collective of musicians and artists from the West Midlands, UK and this is the culmination of 5 years of work. Each composition on the Reverse Parking album is coupled with a piece (sculpture, film, drawing, photography) produced by a myriad of international artists we’ve met and worked with during the years of writing, travelling and recording. This includes Xue Jiang (Shanghai), Driton Selmani and Fatmir Mustafa Karllo (Prishtina), Greg Technology (Montreal), Nathanial Brown (New York) and Vianne Furey (London), I’m lucky that the past few years have allowed me to cross paths with so many talented artists.
6. For the end, what would you say to our readers? Will we see you in Croatia, Split?
I think everybody should stay hydrated and recycle, even the annoying stuff. I would love to visit Split again in any capacity, it’s a beautiful city with real ruins made of stone! Thank you for the interview, cheers!
1.Možete li nam se za početak predstaviti i reći nešto o sebi?
Bok, ja sam John, umjetnik iz West Midlandsa u Ujedinjenom Kraljevstvu. Živim u Parizu, nisam znao što je avokado do svoje 26. godine i još nisam slomio kost (u slengu engleskog jezika, poželjeti sreću, op.prev.).
2. Vi ste vizualni umjetnik. Što vas je motiviralo na to i možete li nam reći nešto o tome?
Motiviraju me kronična nostalgija i ljepota, iako moj rad često naginje mračnijim temama sebičnosti i ljudske rutine. Studirao sam tečaj ilustracije koji se uglavnom temeljio na procesu u Bristolu, ali sam se tijekom druge godine okrenuo animaciji i konceptualnom radu. Iako uživam u procesu radi procesa, otkrio sam da mogu svoje alegorijske instinkte gurnuti dalje izvan ilustracije. Uživam graditi svijet i koristiti taj svijet da ispričam priču i stvorim atmosferu. Moja najnovija rezidencija i projekt pažljivo su animirani tijekom 5 mjeseci u društvenom centru ‘Le Shakirail’ u Parizu. Radnja filma smještena je u ruševine zamišljenog grada, ogromne makete izgrađene od izrezanih papira. Moj je studio bio groblje za rabljenu arhitekturu i povijesne knjige.
3. Vaše područje su film i animacija, od kojih bih izdvojio film I Was Gone Forever. Možete li nam reći nešto više o svom polju kao i o filmu?
Moj rad često ima oblik animiranog videa i zvučne instalacije. Izbjegavam jezik, umjesto toga fokusiram se na slike i ekspanzivne zvučne krajolike. Stop frame animacija je opipljiv, taktilni medij u kojem se sve može oživjeti, na primjer moj film i film Josepha Gowera ‘Njihova besmislena pantomima’ vidjeli smo kako mukotrpno šijemo dlaku po dlaku kroz jaja i kobasice u punoj sceni engleskog doručka. S druge strane, pišem i montiram kratke filmove i dokumentarce različite tematike, ali cilj je pustiti likove da ispričaju priču i pronađu istinu i iskrenost. Film koji ste spomenuli, ‘Otišao sam zauvijek’, dobra je mješavina mojih metodologija, zapravo je izvorno bio osmišljen kao stop frame animacija. Međutim, po dolasku u Albaniju iskoristio sam priliku za snimanje na otvorenom prostoru kulturnog centra Tulla, važne galerije suvremene umjetnosti u središtu Tirane. Stoga je akcijski film uživo prošaran animacijom. Pratimo dva lika, koje glumimo ja i Bianka Xhaferri, koji gaze vječnu neravnotežu u našim odnosima i našim destruktivnim ciklusima ponašanja. Naslov se poigrava besmislenošću naših susreta i mimoilaženja, puni naziv je (ne znam zašto, ali) Otišla sam zauvijek. Većina zvuka je snimljena u nacionalnom parku Germia na Kosovu jer sam želio prirodni odjek da pojačam estetsku ništavnost u kojoj likovi lebde.
4. Zajedno s Peterom Butlerom i Bookerom Woodfordom član si produkcijske kuće Little Balloon. Recite nam kako ste se upoznali i došli na ideju da pokrenete producentsku tvrtku?
Booker, Peter i ja radimo zajedno više od 10 godina. Peter i ja smo zapravo braća, a Booker je studirao s Peterom na Sveučilištu Westminster u Londonu. Little Balloon započeo je život organski kao grupa prijatelja, obitelji i umjetnika koji su se okupljali jednom godišnje kako bi snimali nadrealne crne komedije, naši kratki rokovi i nula budžeta često su nas tjerali da osciliramo negdje između smijanja i međusobnog izluđivanja. Povrh toga, snimanja su općenito zahtijevala da budemo vani na vjetrovitom engleskom polju ili šumi usred zime, ali naša zajednička ljubav prema filmu i kavi izdržala nas je. Kako su godine prolazile, prirodno smo se granali na igrani film (Folklore’s Intimates) i humoristične serije (World of Beercraft, Clarke Cable Film Review Report), sada smo u predprodukciji za dokumentarac u Ujedinjenom Kraljevstvu koji ispituje modernu muškost i mentalno zdravlje, u punu proizvodnju ćemo krenuti 2023.
5. Surađujete s umjetnicima diljem svijeta pa ste tako imali projekte u raznim gradovima kao što su New York, Amsterdam, Tirana. Možete li nam reći nešto više o tim suradnjama, kao i samim umjetnicima?
Suradnja je sastavni dio mog kreativnog procesa i to već dugo vremena. Biti dio dokumentarca Chrisa Smitha u New Yorku bilo je briljantno iskustvo, kao i otvaranje “22” u Tirani, zajedničke izložbe sa slikaricom i arhitekticom Aldom Likom. Krajem studenog konačno ćemo izložiti ‘Reverse Parking’ u Amsterdamu. ‘Reverse Parking’ je kolektiv glazbenika i umjetnika iz West Midlandsa, UK i ovo je kulminacija 5 godina rada. Svaka kompozicija na albumu Reverse Parking povezana je s djelom (skulpturom, filmom, crtežom, fotografijom) koje je proizvelo bezbroj međunarodnih umjetnika koje smo upoznali i s kojima smo radili tijekom godina pisanja, putovanja i snimanja. To uključuje Xue Jiang (Šangaj), Driton Selmani i Fatmir Mustafa Karllo (Priština), Greg Technology (Montreal), Nathanial Brown (New York) i Vianne Furey (London), sretan sam što mi je proteklih nekoliko godina omogućilo da susreću se s toliko talentiranih umjetnika.
6. Za kraj, koji su Vaši budući projekti? Hoćemo li imati prilike vidjeti Vas u Splitu?
Mislim da bi svi trebali ostati hidrirani i reciklirati, čak i dosadne stvari. Volio bih ponovno posjetiti Split u bilo kojem svojstvu, to je prekrasan grad s pravim ruševinama od kamena! Hvala na intervjuu, živjeli!
