My work explores structure, movement, and spatial tension through geometric abstraction. Working with acrylic on canvas and panel, these paintings investigate equilibrium, instability, and perceptual ambiguity—where form shifts between object, field, and event.
Compositions typically begin as digital studies, where proportion, directional force, and internal balance are tested. These preliminary structures are then translated to paint, where the physical process introduces variation, resistance, and revision. Precision gives way to negotiation—between control and disruption, flatness and depth, stability and drift. It is at the edge where structure becomes physical.
My work draws from Constructivism, Bauhaus design, and perceptual theory—particularly the spatial investigations of László Moholy-Nagy and the visual psychology of Rudolf Arnheim. There is also an underlying influence from Pacific Northwest form language: asymmetry, counterform, and compressed spatial relationships. These influences operate as structural principles rather than direct quotation.
Many of my paintings begin as precise digital studies, but the finished works preserve what I term the “live edge” — slight irregularities where forms meet. These transitions retain the physical evidence of painting and introduce a degree of perceptual tension that resists purely mechanical resolution and allow the hand, the surface, and the physical act of painting to remain visible. There is life in the edge.
Mark Butterworth lives and works in Oregon, where painting, drawing, and digital studies continue as parallel parts of an evolving studio practice.
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