Oral history interview with Brian Daniel Butler
name: label: Interviewee
content: Butler, Brian, 1961-
label: Interviewer
content: Drohojowska-Philp, Hunter
topic: label: Occupation
content: Gallery owners -- California
label: Occupation
content: Art dealers -- California -- Los Angeles
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Butler, Brian, 1961-
label: Interviewer
content: Drohojowska-Philp, Hunter
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Brian Daniel Butler (1961- ) is an art dealer and owner of the 1301PE Gallery in Los Angeles, California. Hunter Drohojowska-Philp is a writer in Los Angeles, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 11 Items (sound files (9 hr., 5 min.) Audio, digital, wav)
label: Extent
content: 149 Pages (Transcript)
phystech: label: System Details
content: Recorded on Tascam DR-100MKII 0221768.
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2018 June 4- August 6
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.butler18
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview with Brian Daniel Butler conducted 2018 June 4, 18, and August 6, by Hunter Drohojowska-Philp, for the Archives of American Art, at 1301PE Gallery in Los Angeles, California.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Mr. Butler discusses growing up in the Los Angeles area, in particular in Palos Verdes; his early introduction to studying art at ArtCenter while in high school and his initial interest in illustration; his work in the summers at the advertising firm BBDO; his time as a student at Franklin College and his travels and time spent in Germany and Switzerland as a college student; his introduction to British 20th-century art, especially the work of the artists from St. Ives; his time studying art and art history at UC Berkeley with Peter Selz, among others; his subsequent work in galleries while living in south London, including Paton Gallery; his return to Los Angeles and his work at the advertising firms Chiat/Day and TracyLocke; his continuing interest in the art world, his employment at the Los Angeles gallery Asher/Faure, and his curation of the show there titled British Art: The Literate Link; his introduction to Burnett Miller and his time as the director of the Burnett Miller Gallery; his work with Karsten Schubert on the show A Brave New World; his time in Cologne, Germany, working for a collaborative gallery owned by Miller and Claes Nordenhake in the early '90s; and the challenges presented by representing galleries at art fairs.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Mr. Butler also describes his first thoughts about starting a gallery, and on his focus on producing multiples and editions; his first gallery Brain Multiples, where he helped produce work by Thaddeus Strode, among others; his subsequent gallery 1301 where he produced exhibitions for Jorge Pardo, Diana Thater, Jason Rhoades, Pae White, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Sarah Seager, among others; the transition to his gallery 1301PE (Projects and Editions) and working with Paul McCarthy, Charles Ray, Angela Bulloch, and Fiona Banner, among others; his three years as the director of the New Zealand gallery Artspace beginning in 2005; his thoughts on the current museum and gallery scenes in Los Angeles and the world, and the changes he has seen during his years in the business.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Mr. Butler also recalls Jay Chiat; Duke Comegys; John Baldessari; Dagny Corcoran; Lynne Cooke; Tarlton Pauley Morton; Peter Morton; Fred Sandback; Ian Hamilton Finlay; Kate Ericson; Mel Ziegler; Katrina Cerio Butler, as well as Fred Fehlau; Jean Rasenberger; Meg Cranston; Wilhelm Schürmann; Lincoln Tobier; Peter Noever; Suzanne Goin; Isha Welsh; Judy Darragh; Amada Cruz; and Mungo Thomson, among others.