What is your art practice? What themes do you explore and why?
My practice is rooted in working directly on canvas without a predetermined composition. Each painting develops through a process of marking, looking and responding, with decisions made in real time until the work resolves.
I work within hard-edged geometric abstraction, using colour and form as a framework rather than a fixed structure. Geometry provides a point of departure, but the paintings are not planned in advance — they are discovered through the act of making.
A key influence on my approach comes from my background as an actor, where the work is grounded in presence and responsiveness. In both practices, what matters is not imposing an outcome, but allowing something to emerge through attention and engagement in the moment.
The work is concerned with connection and attention. Rather than presenting something to be observed, the paintings are made to be entered — inviting a moment where the viewer’s focus aligns with the process that formed them. In that sense, the work is less about what is seen, and more about how it is experienced.
Which artists and movements historically have influenced you?
I’m drawn to artists rather than movements. Titian for his use of colour; Van Gogh for emotional and psychological intensity; Matisse for composition and colour; David Hockney for clarity and sense of joy; and Stanley Whitney for his handling of colour and structure.
While I recognise the importance of movements historically, I’m less interested in them as categories. What holds my attention is the human presence within the work — the sense of a particular way of seeing and feeling being carried through the painting.
Across very different contexts, from Renaissance painting to modern and contemporary practice, it’s that directness and clarity of expression that resonates with me — work that communicates without needing explanation, and holds both immediacy and depth.
How important do you think it is that ArtCan is able to offer opportunities for exhibiting outside of a formal gallery structure?
I think it’s valuable that ArtCan offers opportunities beyond formal gallery structures, particularly in creating visibility and different ways of encountering work.
From my own perspective, the context in which a painting is shown really matters. The environment shapes how the work is experienced, so I tend to look for opportunities where there’s space for a more focused engagement with it.
Having a range of platforms is important, as it allows artists to decide what best supports their work at a given point in time.
Do you have to balance your art practice with other work?
Yes — both financially and creatively. For me, the creative balance is the more important of the two.
Alongside painting, I work as a film and television actor. Both practices are grounded in working in the moment — being fully present and responding to what is in front of me — and that connection is central to how I approach each.
Although they are very different disciplines, they support each other. Creatively, they offer different ways of engaging with the same underlying process; financially, they allow me to sustain a focused approach to my work.
What would be your advice for artists just starting out?
I paint because I have to — there’s a drive behind it. That has to come first.
At the same time, unless you’re financially secure from the outset, you have to find a way to support yourself. That might be a job, a business, or something alongside the work. Being clear-eyed about that makes it easier to keep going.
It also helps to have some sense of where you want the work to go. Not a fixed outcome, but an idea of what you’re aiming towards — whether that’s making a living from it, supporting it alongside something else, or simply developing the work as far as it can go.
For me, it comes back to the work itself — the joy in it, and the decisions you’re prepared to make to keep doing it.
What are your next big plans as an artist?
I don’t have a fixed set of “big plans” so much as a direction of travel. I’m focused on developing the work, producing a small number of paintings each year and placing them well. Alongside that, I’ll continue to submit to a few selected competitions.
Website: www.paulbutterworthartist.com
Instagram: @paulbutterworthart
