“Art is like a wife, you have to love her and her only…. You have to keep bettering yourself all the time.”
Twenty-two-year-old Nigel Nixon Butler, an artist hailing from South Ruimveldt Park, Georgetown by way of Surama, North Rupununi (where the larger part of his family is from), is a bit of a dichotomy in more ways than one.
“I’m the type of person that prefers to look at the simple things, things overlooked, figure it out, put it together; the kind that tries to help whenever I can and wouldn’t expect anything in return. Take life as it comes and just focus on what is in the moment. I would like to believe there is a set future and all I have to do is just work hard enough to get there – wherever that may be. Life is full of surprises; much like a painting, you can only see what you have if you keep applying your paints. Not every painting is planned; much like how trying to plan life never works out [for most, it] may work well for some persons, but could not for everyone.”
Butler, who says he is trying to be a full-time artist, but “it’s tough, because it’s hard to manage finances when you’re not sure how much work you would be getting in the week to come or to offset expenses”, first discovered his talent for art in secondary school.
“Secondary school is when you know art was just a mandatory subject you had to do and after doing and trying to do all these subjects, I found art as an escape from reality and something that people took a liking to [and] was encouraged to keep doing it, so I did and went from there,” he explained.
After secondary school, Butler attended ER Burrows School of Arts from which he graduated with a certificate in art and set about making art his career.
“Support for artists is a rare thing,” he says, but he has learnt to “keep focusing on what you want and that’s going to keep you happy enough to keep pursuing it”. “Art is like a wife, you have to love her and her only. You’re not always going to get the respect you want; you’re always going to have the most work to do, because only you know what you want. The thing about creativity is it never gets easy: you always have to start from scratch to create something new and innovative. You have to keep bettering yourself all the time.”
In discussing his influences and sources of inspiration, the articulate, philosophical ‘artrepreneur’ revealed that his paternal and maternal grandparents have had a profound impact on his life. “From the time I was a little child, their advice and logic of life have helped me to understand and learn so much.”
But his art is inspired by life itself. “Life, moments that translate to a feeling which moves the brush in any direction. I have no one source. However, for this year so far, my themes have been around Indigenous elements and people.”
Butler, who uses a variety of mediums – acrylic paints, cement, wood, and pixels (to create digital art), with a focus on painting – made it clear, however, that he did not intend to stick to just the aforementioned themes.
He noted that getting started in a talent-based business was hard, but encouraged would-be entrepreneurs in this area to “keep pushing and you will get there. Be your hardest critic; that way no one else’s words could possibly do you any damage. Take your time and build a foundation; it is important to building higher achievements.”
In pinpointing the most important trait of an entrepreneur, Butler said “it all comes down to management of time, finance, and one’s self”.
He believes fair business and financial support are needed for local artists to develop, and shared his dream for the future of arts in Guyana: “I would like to see art going widespread, where each region could encourage their younger generation to be more creative, whether visually or musically. Places set up and headed by local artists and teachers to help those interested in art become more used to the environment and other international and local artists. Let them see what is being done and not be near-sighted in that what they see around them is the only thing that’s going on; there is a lot more. But, at the same time, keep Guyana as a base of our work. Also, more art galleries are needed – and bigger ones – whose sole purpose is to showcase art, and more local persons being interested in art – viewing it, buying it, just loving it. As an artist, it brings great joy to hear or see a person’s reaction to a painting or your work in general – whatever form of art you do. It’s just fulfilling when someone likes it.”
For him success is about being able “to look back from where you stand and see all the pain, heartache, effort, time and energy you put in to make it to where you stand today”.
Contact: 674-2782