Combining European Expressionism with American popular culture, André Butzer began painting through the artistic and political extremes of the 20th century. With extensive influences from personalities such as Friedrich Hölderlin, Edvard Munch, Walt Disney, and Henry Ford, he developed a fictional universe around the cosmopolitan colony NASAHEIM. There resides Peace-Siemens, a friendly head shape that combines utopian ideas with the economic thought of emerging mass consumerism, while a figure like the Wanderer offers romantic projections and Shame-Human represents the political memories of the past. This universe provides thematic depth to the canvases, with the characters acting as protagonists of color, surrounding the N-House, the home of all colors, with the style the artist has called “Sci-Fi Expressionism.”

A few years after entering the new millennium, the colors came to life and developed into abstract paintings with freely moving lines across the canvas. Close to the limits of painting, from 2010 onwards, Butzer explored the fundamental dimensions and possibilities of pictorial expression on the seemingly black surfaces of his N-Paintings. At that time, Butzer relocated his base to California in 2018, painting outdoors all year round. The resulting works overflow with chromatic freshness, an extended family of lines and shapes with new postures, which have been broadened by their experiences at the extremes of abstraction.

This revised and updated edition covers the entire spectrum of Butzer's work from 1999 to 2023, with the development of the works acquiring an almost musical impetus of growth, returns, and new beginnings. The paintings alternate with contemporary excerpts from the artist that illuminate his unique position as the background of the work, as well as photos from his archives. The introductory essay, written by Hans Werner Holzwarth, examines the different phases of work, placing the artist's ideas in a broader dialogue of abstraction and shaping after the end of each genre. And, perhaps most importantly, the flawless, large-scale illustrations demonstrate his prowess as a colorist, which places this artist among the internationally most recognized painters of his generation.