Similarities Between Picasso And Deborah Butterfield

At first sight, it’s difficult to find out any feature shared by the Pablo Picasso’s and Deborah Butterfield’s sculptures; only after investigating some time analyzing these artworks one may realize both artworks are actually based on the same subject matter – on the image of an animal, that is. Neither the shape, nor the colors, nor the texture seem to be common between them. This fact amazes the viewer as it demonstrates how the artists’ differing personalities and artistic inclinations can lead to such the different interpretations of one topic.
Concerning the artwork’s shape, Butterfield’s design is quite conventional. Even though some details are exaggerated or modified, she basically merely imitates the real object. She sees art as the process of adeptly copying the subject. Almost nobody would be confused figuring out what the artist’s intention is as the four legs, the torso, the head – every aspect of this artwork indicates that this is a sculpture of an animal (a horse, most likely).
On the contrary, Picasso’s creation is what we usually call avant-garde; it is experimental, progressive and, most important, hard to understand.
Instead of gently copying the object, Picasso pays attention to the particular characteristics of it, such as the head, the backbone and the ribs of an animal, and depicts each of them independently. Eventually, these details are rearranged into so-called sculpture. The whole artwork is no longer an integrated object but is solely a list of the object’s details. In other words, Picasso’s sculpture is a thesis rather than a craft; a thesis that argues what the subject’s features
are.
The clash of these two different philosophies about art is inevitable, and this may be most clearly seen in the colors of these sculptures. A rich repertoire of the colors is used in the Butterfield’s work as the artist tries to precisely reproduce the image of the object. In particular, her choice of powerful colors is meant to provoke the feelings one senses when he faces the real animal. On the other hand, Picasso’s construction is literally monochromatic; the colors are utterly eliminated from his sculpture. Such the decision can be explained by Picasso’s perspective on art. From his point of view, art serves as an idea, a thesis, where the superfluous elements should be eliminated in order to make it fully comprehendible.
This progressive philosophy is also expressed in the texture of the artwork. Picasso dismisses any hint of the skin’s features from his sculpture, making the surface of it completely smooth. His design actually resembles the motto of the minimalists – “less is more”. In contrast, the texture of the Butterfield’s construction is clearly based on the animal’s skin. Although the material applied is dissimilar from leather (it seems to be metal), the audience may still feel as if a living animal is standing in front of them. This again proves that Butterfield considers art as the process of imitation.
To conclude, the comparison of these constructions marks the significance of the artist’s aesthetic interest to the creation of unique artwork. In addition to this, the progressive design shown in Picasso’s sculpture also suggests that the art possesses the boundless possibilities; according to this artwork, anything might be redefined, rearranged or reconstructed in it.