Brian D. Butler (born July 1, 1961) is an art dealer and owner of the

1301PE 1301PE is a gallery in Los Angeles founded by Brian D. Butler in 1992. Brain Multiples Butler began Brain Multiples in 1991 to finance, edit, publish and distribute artists’ editions. Rather than representing artists, Butler collaborated with ...

Gallery in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Early life

Butler was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

where he studied art history.

Brain Multiples

In 1991, Butler began Brain Multiples to produce and exhibit artists’

editions Edition may refer to: * Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies * Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run * Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text * Edition Records ...

. He financed, edited, published and distributed artists’ multiples, books and video editions. Rather than representing artists, Butler chose to collaborate with them on projects about which he was particularly enthusiastic. Among the artists whose editions have been produced by Brain Multiples are John Baldessari,

AA Bronson AA Bronson (born Michael Tims in Vancouver in 1946) is an artist. He was a founding member of the artists' group General Idea, was president and director of Printed Matter, Inc., and started the NY Art Book Fair and the LA Art Book Fair. Earl ...

, Meg Cranston,

Gretchen Faust Gretchen Faust (born 1961 in Stoneham, Massachusetts, USA) is an American contemporary artist, performer, art historian, and yoga instructor who lives and works in Totnes, Devon, United Kingdom. She is known for her visual art and performance wor ...

Rachel Khedoori Rachel Khedoori (born 1964 in Sydney, Australia) is a contemporary artist of Iraqi Jewish heritage based in Los Angeles and known primarily for her mixed use of sculpture, film and architecture. Biography Khedoori was born in Sydney and raise ...

Paul McCarthy Paul McCarthy (born August 4, 1945) is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Life McCarthy was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1945. He studied art at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, and later continued ...

Jorge Pardo Jorge Pardo may refer to: *Jorge Pardo (artist) *Jorge Pardo (musician) (born 1955), Spanish musician *J. D. Pardo Jorge Daniel Pardo (born September 7, 1980) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Jack Toretto in '' F9'' (2021), as ...

Jason Rhoades Jason Fayette Rhoades (July 9, 1965 – August 1, 2006) was an American installation artist. Better known in Europe, where he exhibited regularly for the last twelve years of his life, Rhoades was celebrated for his combination dinner party/ ...

, Thaddeus Strode,

Diana Thater Diana Thater (born May 14, 1962, in San Francisco) is an American artist, curator, writer, and educator. She has been a pioneering creator of film, video, and installation art since the early 1990s. She lives and works in Los Angeles, California. ...

, and Rirkrit Tiravanija.

1301

On April 29, 1992, Butler opened the 1301 Gallery in Santa Monica, California. The purpose of 1301 was to present the work of artists, particularly those based in Los Angeles, in world-class one-person and group exhibitions. The opening exhibition of 1301 was ''Raw Material'' by

Kate Ericson Kate Witte Ericson (1955–1995) was an American artist whose work dealt with sociocultural issues, and it often manifested as public art. Life and education The daughter of Herbert Arthur Ericson and Alma Elaine (née Witte) Ericson, she wa ...

and

Mel Ziegler Mel Ziegler and his wife Patricia Ziegler were the American founders of Banana Republic. Along with William Rosenzweig, they also co-founded The Republic of Tea. They eventually sold both companies. Interview with Mel Ziegler. The Zieglers su ...

. Subsequent exhibitions at 1301 included a presentation of Jason Rhoades’ work, a group show featuring the work of Meg Cranston, Jorge Pardo, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lincoln Tobier, and Sarah Seager, and ''Into the Lapse'', a presentation over one month which showed video works of over thirty artists.

1301PE

In 1996, 1301 became 1301PE, standing for Projects and Editions. In 1998, 1301PE moved from Santa Monica to its current location on the

Miracle Mile Miracle Mile may refer to: Places in the United States * Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, a district of Los Angeles * Miracle Mile (Coral Gables), a shopping area in Coral Gables, Florida * Miracle Mile (Manhasset), New York, a premium sho ...

in Los Angeles. The new location of the gallery welcomed the experimentation and smaller side projects of many internationally renowned artists. 1301PE presented the critically acclaimed exhibition ''Together again like never before: the complete poster work of Michael Asher and

Martin Kippenberger Martin Kippenberger (25 February 1953 – 7 March 1997) was a German artist known for his extremely prolific output in a wide range of styles and media, superfiction as well as his provocative, jocular and hard-drinking public persona. Kippenbe ...

'', and the first presentation of the sole surviving member of

General Idea General Idea was a collective of three Canadian artists, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal and AA Bronson, who were active from 1967 to 1994. As pioneers of early conceptual and media-based art, their collaboration became a model for artist-initiated ac ...

AA Bronson’s work ''Felix, June 5, 1994'', which shows Felix Partz, one of Bronson’s partners in the collective, on his deathbed having just succumbed to

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

related illness. Between 2005 and 2008 Butler took over as director of

ARTSPACE Artspace may refer to: * Artspace (website), an online marketplace based in New York City * Artspace, New Haven, an art gallery in downtown New Haven, Connecticut * Artspace Mackay, Mackay, Queensland, Australia * Artspace NZ, a visual arts cent ...

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. While at ARTSPACE, Butler established an endowment and helped found a publishing arm of the gallery called Clouds. With the project ''Speculation'', Butler curated an exhibition for the 52nd

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

in the format of a book. He selected seven artists who in turn selected thirty artists to present a collection of their works. In 2008, Butler returned to Los Angeles, where he continues to oversee 1301PE’s exhibition program. Butler and 1301PE have represented such internationally acclaimed artists as Fiona Banner, of the Young British Artists,

MacArthur Fellows The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 ind ...

Uta Barth Uta Barth (born 1958) is a contemporary German-American photographer whose work addresses themes such as perception, optical illusion and non-place. Her early work emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s, "inverting the notion of background and foreg ...

and Jorge Pardo, Jack Goldstein, Philippe Parreno,

Jessica Stockholder Jessica Stockholder (born 1959) is a Canadian-American artist known for site-specific installation art, installation works and sculptures that are often described as "paintings in space."Kino, Carol"Go Ahead, Play With (And On) the Art,"''The ...

, Diana Thater, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Pae White and Paul Winstanley. Emerging artists whom the gallery represents include Jan Albers, Fiona Connor, Kirsten Everberg, Jorge Mendez Blake, Blake Rayne, SUPERFLEX and Kerry Tribe.

Philanthropy

Butler has been a committee member of Angel Art Auction benefiting Project Angel Food and the Pasadena Art Alliance.

References

External links

1301PE

Brian Butler interview on the Conversation

Brian Butler interview on Radio New Zealand's Kim Hill Show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Brian D. 1961 births Living people