KNOCK ON WOOD: “Insert Erection Joke Here” by Jason Butcher
Jason Butcher presents the drawings of As in a Mirror, Dimly, his current Beep Beep Gallery show, as snapshots from the set of a hypothetical movie, even down to the lighting and soundboards painstakingly drawn into nearly every scene. The works are rich, velvety, and extraordinarily detailed — all done with an architect's mechanical pencil on gessoed wood. In some of the works, Butcher has applied the white base coat more lightly, which preserves the texture of the wood grain and, once colored over with graphite, gives the look of a gray and white plaid. Many of the drawings seem plucked from movie trailers, alluding to impending scenes of graphic violence or sex before cutting to the aftermath. But as the viewer moves through the gallery it becomes apparent that the narrative is more concerned with the actors behind the scenes rather than the characters in the movie.
