Elizabeth Johnson blogs about the paintings of Sharon Butler, recently on view in the exhibition Skin at The Painting Center, New York.

Johnson writes: "A flat, masked-off-and-painted fragment of an architectural drawing dominates 'Silencer,' suggesting a piecemeal, overhead perspective. Water references, including a mottled, blue background and a floating vessel shape, economically layer the sensations of being both 'inside' and 'in front of.' … Multiple, discordant perspectives that don’t add up, the humble droop of canvas, and the painting’s reference to censorship (or a muffled gunshot?) make me feel deflated. 'Silencer' seems to miss expressive power by just a hair. Powerlessness, ever linked to failure in America, followed by stubbornness, resignation, and acceptance, are central to Provisional or New Casualist Art."