Peter Porteous-Butler

Peter Porteous-Butler studied at the North Essex School of Art as a teenager and has spent the bulk of his career in the graphic design industry, starting work with pen and pencil in a creative studio in the 1980’s. It was in this job that the transition to computers happened and he became a bit of a whizz on the Apple Mac, designing and illustrating using them as the industry turned digital. After a spell in a local creative design agency as Studio Manager, he set up his own design business creating visuals, creative concepts and illustration working on promotion for global brands like Guinness, Coca-Cola and Baileys.

In 2018 Peter reconnected with creating art by hand to re-connect with the physical. He set himself a brief to create beautiful works that existed in the world, rather than digitally, bucking the modern trend for NFTs and virtual works. Peter finds real fulfilment and joy in the uniqueness of each piece, and the ink splatters and smudges or blobs of oil Paint add genuine randomness that, he says, is difficult and time-consuming for a computer to replicate authentically, and adds a real sense of human expression.

Lately he has regularly exhibited locally and his shows are always popular, with buyers both in this country and overseas. Peter finds real joy when someone finds a connection with one of his works. He says “Even if just one person really connects with a piece, it’s made the whole thing worth creating”