Using techniques rooted firmly in tradition, Ambreen Butt (b. 1969, Lahore) creates works that explore the complexities of contemporary global politics, female identity and living as a Muslim in the United States. Employing actions including staining, cutting, ripping and tacking with repetitive urgency, Butt's painted and collaged works on paper and large-scale resin installations espouse the radiant aesthetics of sacred geometries and Islamic ornamentation. Often using text-based source materials that include the names of children who lost their lives to war, transcripts from terrorism trials, and quotations from news media, Butt's work is built upon some of the most challenging moral questions of the 21st century. Rather than offer answers, her artworks exist as laborious meditations on humanity.
Butt's work has been featured in solo exhibitions at institutions including the Dallas Contemporary, TX; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC; Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA; among others.
Butt has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Brother Thomas Fellowship from the Boston Foundation, Maud Morgan Prize from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, a Joan Mitchell Foundation grant, and a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario, Canada. In 1999, she was the first recipient of the James and Audrey Foster Prize from the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston in addition to being an artist-in-residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum that same year.
Her work is collected by public institutions including The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota, National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Massachusetts, U.S. Art in Embassies, Islamabad, Pakistan, The Newark Museum of Art, among others.
Butt lives and works in Southlake, Texas. She received her BFA in traditional Indian and Persian miniature painting from the National College of Arts in Lahore. She earned her MFA in painting in 1997 from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston.
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Arsenal of Ambiguity, 2023
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Installation view, "Lay Bare My Arms," Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco, CA, 2023
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Contours of Fragility, 2023
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Guardians of Safe Heavens, 2023
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Installation view, "Lay Bare My Arms," Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco, CA, 2023
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Tearful Harvests, 2023
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Shah Jahan from the series Say My Name, 2023
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Installation view, "Wife and Son of Badr Mansoor," Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco, CA, 2020
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Namaloom (Unknown #2), 2020
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Mohammad Yaas Khan (16), 2020
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Namaloom (Unknown #4), 2020
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Noor Mohammad (15), 2020
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Razi Mohammad (16), 2020
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Asadullah (9), 2019
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Installation view, "I am all what is left of me," Dallas Contemporary, Dallas Texas. Courtesy of Dallas Contemporary, 2015
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Installation view, "I am my lost diamond 2," Dallas Contemporary, Dallas Texas. Courtesy of Dallas Contemporary, 2013
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Pages of Deception, 2012
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Installation view, "I Am My Lost Diamond," Asia Society Texas Center, Houston, TX, 2011
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Daughters of the East, 2008
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Installation view, "Daughters of the East," as part of "Multiple Voices," Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco, CA, 2024
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Multiple Voices
Ambreen Butt, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Chitra Ganesh, Julio César Morales, Ranu Mukherjee, and Eva Schlegel May 16 - July 13, 2024Gallery Wendi Norris presents Multiple Voices, a group exhibition exploring the idea of multiplicity, material and metaphorical. Bringing together gallery artists Ambreen Butt, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Chitra Ganesh, Julio César...Read more -
Ambreen Butt | Lay Bare My Arms
November 9 - December 22, 2023San Francisco, CA: Gallery Wendi Norris is delighted to present Lay Bare My Arms, Ambreen Butt ’s first in-person solo exhibition with the gallery. Featuring eight new meticulously painted and...Read more -
Three Fates
Ambreen Butt, Chitra Ganesh, Eva Schlegel January 13 - February 6, 2022GALLERY WENDI NORRIS OFFSITE EXHIBITION Fort Mason Pier 2 2 Marina Blvd, San Francisco, CA, 94123 San Francisco, CA. Gallery Wendi Norris is pleased to present Three Fates, featuring works...Read more -
Ambreen Butt | Say My Name
June 1 - October 31, 2020“The reason that I choose to pick the name and the age is because name is our first identity as human beings. When you’re born, you’re given the name and...Read more -
Ambreen Butt | Wife and Son of Badr Mansoor
December 1, 2019 - June 1, 2020Gallery Wendi Norris is pleased to present IN THE WINDOW: Wife and Son of Badr Mansoor, by Ambreen Butt, a site-specific commission for the gallery's San Francisco headquarters. Wife and...Read more
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Twelve Museums Acquire Works by Gallery Wendi Norris Artists
July 9, 2024June 9, 2024 Please join Gallery Wendi Norris in congratulating the Art Institute of Chicago, the Asian Art Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Cincinnati Art...Read more -
Hyperallergic | Beauty and Danger in the Art of Ambreen Butt
The Pakistan-born, Texas-based artist creates energetic works underpinned by a pervasive sense of threat. December 12, 2023Bridget Quinn December 12, 2023 SAN FRANCISCO - Ambreen Butt: Lay Bare My Arms at Gallery Wendi Norris combines collage and text with traditional South...Read more -
Visual Art Source | Lay Bare My Arms Review
November 28, 2023Mark Van Proyen November 28, 2023 Continuing through December 22, 2023 In these eight modestly sized collage/paintings on paper, Ambreen Butt sets a high standard...Read more -
In Focus: Ambreen Butt
October 21, 2023Ambreen Butt's mornings and masterpieces begin the same way: with tea. A staple in traditional Persian miniature painting, tea staining serves as the foundation for...Read more