Thomas Micchelli interviews painter Sharon Butler about the work in her exhibition Precisionist Casual at Pocket Utopia, New York, on view through February 17, 2013.

Butler comments: "To be honest, I’m a little apprehensive that some viewers will have… a sense of condescension or even indignation towards the seeming lack of skill and effort involved. As the Met points out in the excellent Matisse show that’s now up, making something look effortless isn’t always easy. But it’s worth trying to do well, if that’s not too much of a paradox. I guess what interests me are the metaphorical possibilities of lethargy, bad decisions, mistake-making, and turning things inside out as reflected in a painting. From these things, I reckon there is quite a bit to infer about not merely how we perceive the world but how we live in it."