Brett Butler is an artist based in Sedalia, Missouri whose photography and film projects focus on dolls, children’s toys, and other iconic images from popular culture. Many of his works hold household names like Barbie and G.I. Joe in everyday settings, such as in kitchens, bathtubs, or even in downtown Sedalia. I met with Brett to discuss his two works in the Columbia Art League’s recent show, Nibble, as well as talk about his plans for the future and reflect on his artistic practice.
Bella Reed: How did you get started in photography and film?
Brett Butler: I've always written so I started out in writing. And then what happened is, I'm a toy collector. And I started to take pictures of toys just for fun. And I used to sell toys at a flea market, and I started, I said, let me bring some pictures with me.
And the pictures started to sell, and then what I did when they started to sell was to hone in on that craft of photography. I lived in Florida…there was a school called the Boca Raton Art School, and I went there for photography. I took multiple classes under Allan Pierce, he's like my mentor for that. And he kind of got me to, you know, learn all the other stuff that I didn't know. So that's basically how I got into photography.
Bella: What or who are your influences in photography?
Brett: In art in general, I'm an Andy Warhol fan. I have some old work that I kind of based off of that. And then...John Waters, who I've met in person, is one of my biggest guiding forces—always to shock [the viewer]. So some of my pieces can be a little bit off, compared to the normal pieces.
Bella: I was looking on your website, and I saw there was an article in the Sedalia Democrat, and you had said that you had initially been worried about the reception of the the art pieces and things like that. Have people responded to them more than you initially expected?
Brett: Yes, much more! So I was worried about moving to Missouri because I lived in South Florida, I had a kind of an art following down there. And I had an uphill battle with this whole career because whenever I would win an award or whatever people would be like, well, you just take pictures of dolls, you don't realize how hard it is to do this. And when I got here, I'm like, I don't know if this is even going to take off.
And surprisingly enough, I've been in Missouri now for three years. It's bigger than when I lived in South Florida. I have a bigger following. I sell more here between Columbia and Sedalia. Everybody's telling me I need to go to Kansas City. Things like that, I just haven't been able to.
Pizza Bites 101 by Brett Butler
Bella: Have you visited Kansas City?
Brett: I'm actually planning to go to Comic Con this year. That's what I'm planning to do in Kansas City.
Bella: I'm sure the pictures would be really big there!
Brett: Yeah, I'm gonna scope it out for possibly next year.
Bella: What about dolls and toys is appealing for you to photograph?
Brett: I have been a big collector since I was a kid. I have always collected toys and stuff, so my studio at home is just full of toys and so many things. Like I have so many Barbie dolls, G.I. Joes, and every little action figure. When I come up to Columbia like today, I'll go to Midway to shop for more stuff to take pictures of.
I just started doing Lego. Lego is something new because people asked me for it. When I started doing some shows people were like, do you do Legos? And now I've been starting to do some Lego pieces.
Bella: Oh, yeah. I'm sure Legos would be really popular. I actually brought a few friends to the Nibble reception, and one of my friends is a Lego collector. He saw your photos, and he was like "Oh, I have to start doing that!" So now he's starting to take photos of his Legos too. So you've got a follower there. Was there a certain appeal to using Lego minifigures in particular?
Brett: I will tell you, for many years I was against doing Lego figures. People were telling me this like, "Oh, do Lego, do Lego!" I was like, no, no! When I started doing this, I strictly just did Barbie. That's all I did. And then I branched out to other stuff. And then when I got to Missouri, I started to play around with Lego and I really liked it. Now I'm doing a lot of Lego stuff.
Bella: That's awesome. Yeah, I know with the Legos there's more flexibility and you can build them, like the different faces and things like that. So I sort of got that especially in this one where the chef is like, you know, all nervous.
Brett: And that was hard! I've never worked on real food because I have tons of plastic food. And real food was really hard!
Bella: Oh, yeah, I'm sure because getting the Lunchable sort of things to stay...
Brett: Yeah, because it starts to sweat after a little while. You know, you've got lights hanging over it and stuff to get the lighting right.
Bella: Was there a reason you used specifically Lunchables in these?
Brett: Because when I was doing this, I was trying to figure out what kind of food is small enough. And the Lunchables were kind of like the ideal food that I figured could work out well with the LEGO minifigures that wasn't too big and wasn't too small.
Bella: That's fair. Yeah, when I originally looked at both of the photos, I was just hit with this huge wave of childhood nostalgia, especially with the Legos and the Lunchables put together. So I wasn't sure if there was a meaning behind that or anything like that, or if it was just like a technical sort of decision.
Brett: Because of the structure and then the wheelbarrows and what's going to fit on it, it's not gonna be too overwhelming. The background is actually a kid's refrigerator, and the door's open to the freezer.
Bella: Yeah, I was wondering what the background was.
Ham & Cheese 101 by Brett Butler
Brett: That was the hardest part of this picture. When I started doing it, I couldn't find a background. Like that's on top of the kid's stove…and that's just the freezer door. So originally, I had a Lego piece in the back, and it just looked too generic. And then I put a brick wall thing up, it looked terrible. And I'm like, let me open the door and tape it to the wall. And it was perfect! It has old food in the background, like TV dinners. So that's where the background came from.
And the wood board, I just bought that at Walmart. [Laughter] They're all right now sitting in my studio with plastic food I'm working with. And then I have Instagram and Facebook and all this to follow. If you dig into my website, you'll see my old work.
Bella: Oh, yeah, I saw there was a lot of pictures of the Barbie dolls!
Brett: Yeah, because I do a lot of Barbies still. But that was my exclusive in the beginning. And I do GI Joe. And now I just, I do anything. It's fun. It's stress relieving. I'm just happy, moving here, that the reception has been so good.
Bella: Yeah, for sure. I would have been worried as well. Like just moving to a new place and things like that—that's scary!
Brett: The first show I did in Sedalia, I belong to the Sedalia Art League as well, and to the Columbia Art League, and I went to a meeting, and they said "Oh, it's very hard to sell in Sedalia." And I did a show, you know, a group show with them in the first two pieces, they just sold. Like wow! That's never happened! So it's been a really good run.
Bella: I think there's definitely in central Missouri in particular, and I think in a lot of rural places in the Midwest, a lot of people feel really nostalgic about toys. And there's a lot of collectors.
Brett: In Sedalia, I do have a miniature Sedalia in my studio.
Bella: Oh, yeah. I remember hearing hearing about that on your website.
Brett: And so I did a show a couple of weeks ago, and I have a lot of different Godzillas from probably before you were born. I had some of them attacking Sedalia and things like that. That's my biggest seller in Sedalia, is Godzilla attacking Sedalia.
Bella: That's so funny.
Brett: So like next, the next show here, I did one for this tiny show. It's going to be a copy of Columbia. We'll see how that goes here.
Bella: That's awesome. I'm excited to see that!
