Artist Eugenia Butler died over the weekend from what I was told was a stroke.
Eugenia was a neighbor of mine at the Brewery Art Colony for many years. She was supportive of my projects over the years (especially early on, when it meant the world) and once gave me a ride to the airport (a big deal in L.A.).
She had a reputation as a high-maintenance personality and there are a lot of great stories about that side of her, but she had a compassionate side too – and I think it was borne out of her experiencing the 1960s cultural shifts while she was developmentally able to comprehend what was going on as she was going along with it (a perk of being an early baby boomer, but manifest expressly in her personality and the hopeful, probing side of her art).
Her art was quite heady at times, and ever the Aquarius, she loved grouping people together for projects like The Kitchen Table and The Book of Lies. I most liked her small paintings illustrating sound that appeared to be minimal contrasts of stark color and simple line drawings that were elegant and involved. She was prolific – especially for a conceptual artist – and never afraid to try new things. I included her in a survey of artists from the Brewery that I curated in 2001 for Shasta College in Redding up in Northern California.
The last time I spoke to her was right after Allan Kaprow had died, we had a long discussion, and over this past weekend I went to the Allan Kaprow retrospective at MOCA and thought of Eugenia, how she was a part of the tradition Kaprow had berthed, how she would not have allowed MOCA to dare put on such a piss poor rambling bullshit tribute to an important artist and then I wondered how she was doing as my thoughts wandered through the show… she was already gone and I didn’t even know it.
Out of respect I just can’t find it in me to relay here one of many stories of how OUT THERE she was in her fearless confrontation with anyone on any subject at any time, but she was a legend among the personalities of the art world.
I found someone’s YOUTUBE video of her… the best part is her laugh…