- An Uncertain Smile (1996)
- Jean Baudrillard: The Defence of the Real (1999) A Secret History of Australian Art (2002)
- Slavoj Žižek: Live Theory (2005)
- Borges' Short Stories (2010)
- What is Philosophy? A Reader's guy (forthcoming)
- A History of UnAustralian Art with ADS Donaldson Practical Religion: On the Afterlife of Colin McCahon (forthcoming) - with Laurence Simmons
- What is Appropriation? (1996)
- Radical Revisionism (2005)
- Slavoj Žižek: Interrogating the Real (2005) - with Scott Stephens
- Slavoj Žižek: The Universal Exception (2006) - with Scott Stephens
- Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe: Art after Deconstruction (2011)
Articles
A list of articles by Rex Butlerare available online at http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/list/author_id/211/
Writings on Australian ArtA Short Introduction to UnAustralian Art (2003)
A speech given to an art fair in Berlin in 2003 outlining a possible non-national history of Australian art. The example of the expatriate painter John Peter Russell is considered.
French, Floral and Female: A History of UnAustralian Art 1900-1930 (2010)
In this essay, which is another instalment in the authors' ongoing project of writing a history of 'UnAustralian' art in the 20th century, the period 1900 to 1930 is characterised in terms of three adjectives: 'French', 'floral' and 'female'. 'French' because so much of Australian art history took place in France, or in relation to France, during the period. 'Floral' because so much of this history can be understood in terms of flower painting, often included in still lifes and interiors, as opposed to the prevailing 'gum tree' nationalism enshrined after the War. 'Female' because, extending the existing accounts by women art historians, the entire period can be understood as feminine in character. This 'UnAustralian' account breaks with the importance attributed both to Norah Simpson bringing back books on Cubism in 1913 and to Grace Cossington-Smith's The Sock Knitter (1915) as the first signs of modernism in Australia, and to the War as an event that dramatically changed the course of Australian art history, either by sending Australian artists for the first time overseas or by explaining the prominence of women in Australian art after the War. To think Australian art 1900-1930 as 'French, floral and female' is to imagine a different account from the usual nationalist one, to reconceive a history that has remained fundamentally unaltered since William Moore's The Story of Australian Art (1934).
Where to put Aboriginal art (2010)
A catalogue essay written for exhibition "Jus' Drawn", held at Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne, 7 August 2010. An examination of the notion of "urban Aboriginal art".
Judgement day (2010)
A catalogue essay written for the James C Sourris Collection, exhibited as first of Brisbane Club's Collectors' Series (July 23, 2010). Essay takes up Indigenous artist Richard Bell's "Judgement Day (Bell's Theorem)", 2007, which contains the statement "Australian Art Does Not Exist".
Imants Tillers -- The Last Australian or the First Post-Australian Artist? (2009)
Paper originally delivered as 2009 Salek Minc Lecture discussing painter Imant Tillers' place in Australian landscape tradition
In a Post-Critical Moment : Catalogue Essay (2008)
A catalogue essay on painter Ben Quilty for 2008 Melbourne Art Fair
Key Words: Ben Quilty, Tracey Moffatt, Juan Davila, Post-Critical, Contemporary Australian Art, Post-Modernism, Australian Art, Contemporary Painting
The Revolutionary Colouring History (2007)
A preview of Gordon Bennett's 2007 retrospective at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Note: Ian McLean challenges Butlers use of the phrase "artistically crude" in the article Revolutionary Clouring History, comparing it to the term "primitive" and stating that it is a 'classic example of othering'.
McLean, L 2011, 'Other Side Art: Trevor Nickolls', Artlink, Vol 31, No. 2, p. 52, Artlink Australia, Adelaid.
Short Interesting Articles
Review of Bernard Smith's 'The Formalesque' (2008)
A review for ABC Radio National's 'Book Show' of Australian art historian Bernard Smith's most recent book 'The Formalesque' 2007
Bill Henson: The letter returns (2008)
Damien Hirst's Death Drive: On the post-ironic art of Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst (2009)
Before the Law: Reading the Yuendumu Doors with Eric Michaels (2001)
Framing Peter Neilson (2007)
A catalogue essay for exhibition 'Constellations' by Peter Neilson, Australian Galleries, Sydney, 10-28 July 2007
Margaret Preston and the History Wars (2008)
A catalogue essay for the exhibition 'Australian Graffiti' by Indigenous artist Christian Thompson, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, 4 March - April 5, 2008
Hey Guys here is something to get your teeth into before next week. Happy reading- Eileen
ReplyDeleteThanks Eileen! This is fabulous! --Maura
ReplyDeleteFrench, Floral and Female: A History of UnAustralian Art 1900-1930, the article Rex read out in class is the second article down in Writings on Australian Art.
ReplyDelete