André Butzer (born 7 June 1973 in Stuttgart) is a German artist.
Life and work Butzer studied for a short time at the Merz Akademie in Stuttgart and the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg, and was a member of the "Akademie Isotrop" group in Hamburg from 1996 to 2000.See the chapter "Family Paintings", in: Christian Malycha, ‘’Being and Image: André Butzer 1994–2014‘’, Bielefeld: Kerber Verlag 2018, pp. 7–27.
Butzer became famous for his paintings, which he himself described as "Science Fiction Expressionism". His paintings can be sorted into different genres, such as the "Friedens-Siemense" (Peace Siemenses), "Schande-Menschen" (Men of Shane), the "Frau" (Woman) or the "Wanderer", completely monochrome or extreme, Abstract paintings that resemble colorful visions of lost technological utopias.For an extensive biography and survey of Butzer’s work, see: Christian Malycha, ‘‘Being and Image: André Butzer 1994–2014’’, Bielefeld: Kerber Verlag 2018; in particular the first part of the book on "Science Fiction Expressionism," pp. 29–195. According to Guillermo Solana, Butzer’s characters seem "like Disney figures painted by Munch."Guillermo Solana in conversation with André Butzer, "Conspiring with the paint," in: ‘’André Butzer’’, Madrid: Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, 2023, p. 62.
Butzer names Walt Disney, Edvard Munch, Henri Matisse, Friedrich Hölderlin and Henry Ford as his role models.See André Butzer in conversation with Berthold Reiß, in: André Butzer: Pressemitteilungen, Briefe, Gespräche, Texte, Gedichte. Band 1: 1999–2017, Vienna: Verlag für moderne Kunst 2017, p. 63: "Friedrich Hölderlin. He is probably my favorite poet. That makes him one of my favorite personalities ever. Besides Hölderlin, there are Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch. These are people who help me do my thing, go my way. They act as patron saints. I carry them with me as a living bookshelf, as a reference library, without reading them." He also appeared in public under the names N-Hölderlin, Henry Butzer, and Calvin Cohn. Butzer’s utopian, artistic design is located in the fictional place "Nasaheim" ("N"),Christian Malycha, Being and Image: André Butzer 1994–201, Bielefeld: Kerber Verlag 2018, pp. 119–136: "But home has no place in this world. It is an invention, ‘everywhere and nowhere’ at the same time, existing only in the image. However, it is precisely in this self-aware fiction that he bases his own understanding of images. [...] What is "Nasaheim" or "N" and what does it stand for? ‘NASA’ is the extremely distant. That which takes place far away, in our imagination, beyond the world. Added to this is "Heim", meaning "something very close, warm," or human. Earthly and otherworldly. Already as a compound word creation, Butzer expresses a balanced state with "NASA-Heim" and names an "untouched" place, where everything that has been suffered is appeased and comes to an end. This is what N stands for." a kind of pilgrimage site in space, "where the inhabitants contemplate the decommissioned machines of destruction and all who arrive there are made innocent".Quoted from the poster for the exhibition "André Butzer: N-Leben" at Gió Marconi Gallery, Milan, 2006.
However, his paintings do not appear to be translations of narrative structures; rather, they bring forth content, i.e., they express something that could not be said before.Christian Malycha, Being and Image: André Butzer 1994–2014," Bielefeld: Kerber Verlag 2018, p. 191: "A language that cannot be spoken because it is painting." The artist often produces in series and instrumentalizes the means of repetition as an "amoral method of representation". Some of the paintings can be classified as history paintings, also through their depiction of history as a drama of individual figures.Thomas Groetz in: ‘’André Butzer: Chips und Pepsi und Medizin’’, Berlin: Galerie Max Hetzler, 2003.
According to Hannah Eckstein, Butzer’s paintings show a world that is "once again out of joint. His paintings and watercolors are as touching as they are disturbing. They call for caution and vigilance. All too easily, as history tells, man tends to repeat his transgressions and, all of a sudden, appears with a monstrously transformed face, as if in a Kafkaesque nightmare."Hannah Eckstein, "Maybug fly!", in: ‘’André Butzer: Maikäfer flieg!’’, Friedrichshafen: Kunstverein Friedrichshafen, 2023, p. 8. Usually, he either applies paint very thickly, painting in several layers, or achieving lighter, cartoon-like results by using alla prima painting.
Steffen Krüger, states that "Butzer’s fascinating fusion of early European Expressionism with ready-made American pop culture, the conceptual recurrence and apparent seriality of his figures, as well as his insistence on the bare human dignity, are a testament to his courageous and continuous enquiry into societal contradictions and social non-conformity."Steffen Krüger, "Peaches", in: André Butzer, edited by Timo Miettinen, Berlin: DCV, 2024, p. 48.
Butzer lives in Berlin-Wannsee.
Solo exhibitions 2025: Skarstedt, New York. Frau am Tisch mit Früchten, Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris 2024: Glaube, Liebe und Hoffnung, Museo Novecento, Florence. »... und der Tod ist auch ein Leben.«, Museo Stefano Bardini, Florence. GfG Gesellschaft für Gegenwartskunst, Augsburg. Farbtheorie, Parish church St Nikolaus, Innsbruck. nw9 – Kunstraum der Stiftung Kunstwissenschaft, Cologne 2023: Maikäfer flieg!, Kunstverein Friedrichshafen. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. Kirschmichel, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin. Nino Mier Gallery, New York. Miettinen Collection / Salon Dahlmann, Berlin. Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Schwandorf 2022: Friedrichs Foundation, Weidingen 2021: 12 years collecting André, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles. Galería Heinrich Ehrhardt, Madrid. André Butzer / Ulrich Wulff, Galerie Bernd Kugler, Innsbruck. Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin 2020: Light, Colour and Hope, YUZ Museum, Shanghai. Museum of the Light, Hokuto. Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris. Carbon 12, Dubai 2019: Galerie Bernd Kugler, Innsbruck. Galerie Christine Mayer, Munich 2018: IKOB Museum of Contemporary Art, Eupen. Nino Mier Gallery, Cologne. 1 Eis, bitte! (1999), Galerie Max Hetzler, London. Auf Wiedersehen in Kopenhagen. A Solo Show on Planet Earth, Sunday-S, Copenhagen. Selected Works from Private Collections, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin 2017: Växjö Konsthall, Växjö. Carbon 12 Gallery, Dubai. Galerie Xippas, Geneva. Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles. Galerie Bernd Kugler, Innsbruck. Galeria Mário Sequeira, Braga. Metro Pictures, New York 2016: ... und sah den Frieden des Himmels, Bavarian Army Museum, Ingolstadt. Neue Galerie, Gladbeck. Hiromi Yoshii, Tokyo. Galerie Christine Mayer, Munich 2015: Kunstverein Reutlingen. Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin 2014: Galerie Christine Mayer, Munich. Hiromi Yoshii, Tokyo. Carbon 12, Dubai 2013: Metro Pictures, New York. Gió Marconi, Milan. Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin 2012: Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago. Mário Sequeira, Braga. 2011: Kunsthistorisches Museum and CAC Contemporary Art Club at the Theseustempel, Vienna. André Butzer – Der wahrscheinlich beste abstrakte Maler der Welt, Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover 2010: Nicht fürchten! Don't be scared!, Metro Pictures, New York. Galerie Bernd Kugler, Innsbruck 2009: Viele Tote im Heimatland: Fanta, Sprite, H-Milch, Micky und Donald! Paintings 1999–2009, Kunsthalle Nuremberg. Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin 2008: Butzer / Dahlem, Galerie Heinrich Ehrhardt, Madrid. Metro Pictures, New York 2007: Ortsmuseum Wolfshalden. Alison Jacques Gallery, London. Gary Tatintsian Gallery, Moscow. Friedens-Siemense (Teil 2) , Galerie Guido W. Baudach, Berlin 2006: Amerikanische Technik im Jahre 2017, Patrick Painter, Santa Monica. N-Leben, Gió Marconi, Milan. Galerie Bernd Kugler, Innsbruck. Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin 2005: Kunstverein Ulm 2004: Das Ende vom Friedens-Siemens Menschentraum, Kunstverein Heilbronn 2003: Chips und Pepsi und Medizin, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin. Todall! , Galerie Hammelehle und Ahrens, Cologne 2002: Nasaheim Blumen , Galerie Christine Mayer, Munich. Friedens-Siemense (Teil 1) , Galerie Gabriele Senn, Vienna. Wanderung nach Annaheim, Galerie Guido W. Baudach, Berlin 2001: Galerie Hammelehle und Ahrens, Stuttgart 2000: Der Realismus bereut nichts, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin 1999: Ich bin Munch, Galerie Esther Freund, Vienna
Group exhibitions 2026: Becoming Paula: London Berlin Worpswede Paris. 150 Jahre Paula Modersohn-Becker, Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum, Bremen. 700 Year of Art, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main. 2025: The Long Now 1985–2025: Saatchi Gallery at 40, Saatchi Gallery, London. Collection Highlights, Rubell Museum, Miami / FL. I will look into the Earth: Miettinen Collection, Kunsthalle Helsinki. Only Human, Kunsthalle 8000, Wädenswil. seconda horisonda: Asger Jorn and the others. Erinnerungen an die Zukunft, Ketterer, Cologne. Denke frei, schaffe neu! Die Sammlung im Blick, Galerie Stadt Sindelfingen. All our Todays, MARe Museum, Bucharest. Sonne, Mond und Sterne — mit der Tradition nicht brechen, Städtische Galerie, Ostfildern. Maybe it was Magic: New works from the Miettinen Collection, Miettinen Collection, Berlin. Gras der Kindheit (Walter Zimmermann), Achim Freyer Kunsthaus, Berlin 2024: How to Collect Art: Karel Tutsch Story, Galerie moderního umění, Hradci Králové. Beginner’s Mind: Zum 75. Geburtstag von Walter Zimmermann, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin. Landschaftsmalerei, Galerie Bernd Kugler, Innsbruck. »daß die Göttin nicht himmelwärts, sondern herab nach ihren Freunden blickt«, Secci Gallery, Florence 2023: Magic + Cool: Malerei der Jahrtausendwende, Museum Penzberg / Sammlung Campendonk, Penzberg. Now – Arte Contemporânea Mundial, Museu Inimá de Paula, Belo Horizonte. Extraordinary Form: Abstract and Non-Figurative Art from Miettinen Collection 1970 to the Present, Miettinen Collection, Berlin. Meisterwerke der Druckgrafik, Feuerbachhaus, Speyer. The Day I say You: Retatos de la Colección Fundación AMMA, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Querétaro, Mexixo City. The Teardrop explodes, Kunsthaus Villa Jauss, Oberstdorf. das gelbe Licht 6 Uhr nachmittags, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin. 2022: Die Nacktheit der Zeichnung, Gesellschaft für Gegenwartskunst, Augsburg. wir sagen uns Dunkles dark things we tell each other, Miettinen Collection / Salon Dahlmann, Berlin. #holzschnitt: 1400 bis heute, Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin. Follow George Grosz – Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Druckgrafik und Filme, Kunstsammlung Jena. Mix & Match. Die Sammlung neu entdecken, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich. Through our eyes: Resonance and Illusion in Contemporary Portraits, Center of International Contemporary Art, Vancouver. Unendliche Geschichten. Aus der Sammlung Oehmen, Museum Ratingen. The Innerworld of the Outerworld of the Innerworld, Soy Capitán, Berlin 2021: Expedition, Brattleboro Museum, Brattleboro / VT. Art-Book: Pictoriality in Print, Musashino Art University Museum, Tokyo. Nassima Landau Foundation, Tel Aviv. Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. 2020: Museum as a New Public Space: Distorted Portrait, Space K Gallery, Seoul. Under certain Circumstances, IKOB Museum of Contemporary Art, Eupen. Hölderlinturm, Tübingen. 2019: Inaugural Exhibition, Rubell Museum, Miami / FL. Contemporary German Art from the Adam Collection, Dům umění – House of Art, Ostrava. Hymne an die Jugend, Märkisches Museum, Witten 2018: Gastspiel – Die Sammlungen Grässlin und Wiesenauer im Dialog, Sammlung Grässlin – Räume für Kunst, St. Georgen 2017: Abstract Painting Now!, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems. Peter Saul, Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg. Hope and Hazard: A Comedy of Eros, Hall Art Foundation, Vermont. 2016: Sammlung Viehof – Internationale Kunst der Gegenwart, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg. Wir suchen das Weite. Reisebilder, Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin 2015: German Cool, Salsali Private Museum, Dubai United Arab Emirates