Yuan Butler earned her Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Her large-scale works bring together Early Baroque and rococo influences and modern women artists' voice to create new allegories. Her paintings have been prominently featured in solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Europe and China. She gained recognition in notable publications like New American Paintings, Visionary Art Collective, and so on. Her work is part of both private and public collections in the United States. Beyond her creative practice, Butler is a dedicated educator, serving as a faculty member of Visual Art at Georgia Gwinnett College where she inspires the next generation of artists.
Butler’s artistic approach is a compelling blend of surrealism and personal narrative. Her use of lush, unreal colors and distorted forms evokes a dreamlike quality, seamlessly intertwining her childhood memories of orientalist art practice with her creative instincts. Starting with intuitive gestural marks, her automatic drawings evolve organically, capturing inspirations from nature and her immediate surroundings. The resulting imagery, which oscillates between childlike wonder and sensuality, reflects her imagination’s depth. This process of self-embracement allows her to become the central figure in her work, navigating the liminal space between abstraction and figuration. Her art has become a meditative exploration, a transcendent response to the fluid myths of time and space, offering viewers a glimpse into her internal landscape.
Awards
2024, Cecile Adler Cliffer Memorial Cutting-Edge Award in the 135th Annual NAWA exhibition, New York, US
2024, Honor of Excellent Instructor, FSU-HUTB Undergraduates Summer drawing course, Changsha, China
2022, Finalist, Juried ArtNove100 in Beijing, China
2019, The Honor Award Scholarship, Savannah College of Art and Design
Publications
2024 New American Paintings, MFA Issue 171
2023 "Diamagnetic Suspension", ChinaTribu
2022, Visionary Art Collective, New York,NY
2022, I Like Your Work Podcast, Boston, MA
2021 All She Makes Magazine, "Issue #3"
Recent Exhibitions:
2024 Hudgens Center for Art and Learning, Duluth, GA
2024 Honeycomb, The Pollinator Art Space, Atlanta
2024 Quinlan Arts Center Gainsvelle,, GA
2024 One Art Space, New York, NY
2024 Love, Suwannee Art Center, Suwannee, GA
2023 "Rise & Thrive", Asian Pacific Heritage Month, Coca Cola Headquarter, Atlanta, GA
2023 Solo digital screen show, SCAD, Atlanta
2022 Group show "Voice of Silence" curated by H Foundation
2022 Solo exhibition "Diamagnetic Suspension", Mason Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
2021 "Forbidden Fruit", Piano Craft Gallery, Boston, MA
2021 "Moments like This", Woman Made Gallery, Chicago,IL
2020 “Touch”, Virtual Exhibition, Womanmadeghallary, Chicago,IL
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