Artists John Button

Growth Spurt

Artist Statement

2025 Padstow Gallery, Cornwall - Easter Exhibition

2024 Ekströms Galleri, Västerås, Sweden - ‘Balancing Act’ with Catharina Bauer

2024 Sollentuna Konstronda - Open Studio Weekend 28th-29th September

2024 Prince & Pilgrim Gallery, Richmond, Surrey - Summer Exhibition

2024 Roddarhuset, Vaxholm, Sweden - Summer Exhibition

2024 Galleri Fiskhuset, Nyköping, Sweden - ‘Fem på Fiskhuset’                                                                           2024 Galerie Ca Bon, Tokyo, Japan                                   2023 Sollentuna Konstronda - Open Studio Weekend       2022 Padstow Gallery, Cornwall - One-man show, ‘Coast to Coast’                                                                             2022 Magpie Contemporary Art, Farnham, Surrey             2020 Karby Gård, Täby, Sweden

​2020 'Coastal Paths'. Whitespace Art, Totnes

​2020 Galleri Fiskhuset, Nyköping, Sweden

2019 One-man show at Roddarhuset, Vaxholm

2019 Lime Tree Gallery, Long Melford, Suffolk, England

2018 Affordable Art Fair, Singapore (with Lime Tree Gallery)

2018 Affordable Art Fair, Stockholm, October (with Roddarhuset)

2018 Sollentuna Konstronda (2004-2019) Open studio

2017 ​ Affordable Art Fair, Stockholm 12-15th October (with Roddarhuset)

2017 Affordable Art Fair, Bristol 8-10th September(with Lime Tree Gallery)

2017 Roddarhuset, Vaxholm - Group Show

2017 Lime Tree Gallery, Suffolk - 'Places I Know'

2017 Lime Tree Gallery, Bristol - 'A Sense of Space'

2016 Roddarhuset, Vaxholm - Group Show

2015 Ashdown Gallery, Forest Row, England

​2015 Roddarhuset, Vaxholm

2014 Ashdown Gallery, Forest Row, England

2013 Stockholmskonstsalong, Hagaparken (Stipendium!)

2012 Galleri Ekvall+Törnblom, Stockholm

2012 Roddarhuset, Vaxholm

2011 Edsvik Konsthall, Höstsalong

2011 Galleri Aniara, Sollentuna Bibliotek

2011 Vaxholms skulpturpark, Roddarhuset

2011 Överby Gård Konstcentrum, Sollentuna

2009 Roddarhuset, Vaxholm

2008 Edsvik Konsthall, Höstsalong

2008 Stockholmskonstsalong, Hagaparken (Stipendium)

2008 Galleri Glöd, Malmö

2006 "30 x 30", Väsby Konsthall

2006 Galleri Lucy Ford, Stockholm

2006 "30 x 30", Väsby konsthall

2006 Överby Gård, Sollentuna

2005 Galleri Mäster Olof, Stockholm

2004 "30 x 30", Väsby konsthall

2004 Akvarellsalong, Väsby konsthall

2000 Brighton Festival    

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Artist Biography

Born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, John grew up on England’s east coast. He studied Architecture in Brighton and worked for many years with exhibition design, interiors and illustration. After moving to Sweden with his young family, John began painting and exhibiting more actively. More recently he’s expanded his gallery representation beyond Sweden to throughout the U.K, France and to the U.S.A. In the Spring of 2024 he travelled to Japan and had a sell-out show in Tokyo.

In his paintings, he explores landscape and seascape through its patterns and textures, attempting to trigger a memory or a sense of place and ignoring conventional rules of perspective along the way. In his still-life studies, John tries to tease something extraordinary out of his everyday surroundings. Inspiration for John lies all around, from an uncleared breakfast table to an upturned boat on a shingle beach.

John paints with acrylics which he lays on with vigour. After creating an initial abstract composition of shapes and splashes, some semblance of reality normally finds its way in; a mug, a vase, a boat, a jetty… More often than not, he works on hard panels such as plywood or mdf which enable him to scratch and distress the surface. In addition to paint, he uses whatever may be to hand; charcoal, crayons, correcting fluid, oil pastel, wallpaper paste, working layer upon layer until (eventually) something emerges and tells him to stop.