Art, culture and community at Butter Fine Art Fair

The art at GANGGANG’s sixth Butter Fine Art Fair was so compelling it melted away Indianapolis’ troubles, if only for a few hours.

On Thursday, local media members, influencers and community leaders descended on The Stutz for the fair’s preview. The equitable, commission-free event showcases hundreds of works by 53 Black visual artists representing the African diaspora.

Indianapolis artist Wildstyle Paschall displayed three pieces, including “Butter in the Sugar Shack,” which documents a previous Butter dance event and references artist Ernie Barnes’ iconic 1976 painting, “The Sugar Shack.”

But painter and former tattoo artist Marcus Robins drew much of the attention with two works that use traditional Flemish and Renaissance techniques to place Black subjects in classical settings where they have historically been underrepresented in the Western art canon.

His piece “Lamb of God” was not for sale, but another work, “Our Lady of Justice: Holding the Weight of Sin,” was acquired during the media preview by The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis for its collection.

Robins recently received first prize for painting at the 2026 Chianciano Biennale in Tuscany, Italy.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star:Art, culture and community at Butter Fine Art Fair