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Amy Cutler: A Narrative Thread

March 12, 2021 – May 16, 2021

Amy Cutler, Viragos, 2003. Gouache on paper, 19 ½ x 30 inches. Private Collection, New York. Image © Amy Cutler, courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.
Amy Cutler, Viragos, 2003. Gouache on paper, 19 ½ x 30 inches. Private Collection, New York. Image © Amy Cutler, courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.

About

Amy Cutler is known for her highly detailed compositions of austere but immaculately attired women who, with singular focus, engage in curious activities—from sewing stripes onto tigers to delivering elixirs while wearing boot-shaped wooden stilts. Despite their fictionalized settings, the drawings are often inspired by Cutler’s own experiences and anxieties, which she brilliantly transforms into allegorical scenarios that resonate with emotional depth and humor. Seamlessly integrating subtle allusions to contemporary politics and even stories of religious martyrdom into her work, the artist is also influenced by a range of visual sources, including Persian miniatures, Japanese Ukiyo-e prints, and ethnographic dress and textiles. This exhibition takes a deeper look at Cutler’s use of material culture as a subtle narrative device, and focuses particularly on her embrace of elaborate costuming and fabric patterns as a means to express her characters’ psychologies and to reinforce the narrative backstory of her compositions.

Gallery

Amy Cutler, Garnish, 2014. Gouache on paper, 12 7/8 x 10 ½ inches. Collection of Joel and Zoe Dictrow, New York. Image © Amy Cutler, courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.
Amy Cutler, Garnish, 2014. Gouache on paper, 12 7/8 x 10 ½ inches. Collection of Joel and Zoe Dictrow, New York. Image © Amy Cutler, courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.
Amy Cutler, Cumulus, 2020. Graphite on paper, 22 x 30 inches. Courtesy of the Artist and Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York. © Amy Cutler, Courtesy of Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York. Photography: Adam Reich.
Amy Cutler, Cumulus, 2020. Graphite on paper, 22 x 30 inches. Courtesy of the Artist and Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.
Amy Cutler, Buoyant, 2020. Gouache on paper, 22-7/8 x 21-1/2 inches. Collection of Heidi and John Cooper. © Amy Cutler, Courtesy of Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York. Photography: Adam Reich.
Amy Cutler, Buoyant, 2020. Gouache on paper, 22-7/8 x 21-1/2 inches. Collection of Heidi and John Cooper.
Amy Cutler, Multiplicity, 2007. Gouache on paper, 17 ½ x 11 inches. Collection of the artist, New York. Image © Amy Cutler, courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.
Amy Cutler, Multiplicity, 2007. Gouache on paper, 17 ½ x 11 inches. Collection of the artist, New York. Image © Amy Cutler, courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.
illustration of a group of women in long dresses, some building a brick wall surrounding a landscape of short tree stumps
Amy Cutler, Trial, 2004. Opaque watercolor and graphite pencil on paper, 29 x 41-1/4 inches. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Purchased with funds from Ann and Steven Ames.
Amy Cutler, Deliah, 2020. Gouache on paper, 14 x 10-1/8 inches. Courtesy of the Artist and Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York. © Amy Cutler, Courtesy of Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York. Photography: Adam Reich.
Amy Cutler, Deliah, 2020. Gouache on paper, 14 x 10-1/8 inches. Courtesy of the Artist and Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.
Amy Cutler, Above the Fjord, 2010. Gouache on paper, 29 x 41 ¼ inches. Collection of the artist, New York. Image © Amy Cutler, courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.
Amy Cutler, Above the Fjord, 2010. Gouache on paper, 29 x 41 ¼ inches. Collection of the artist, New York. Image © Amy Cutler, courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.
Amy Cutler, Realignment, 2009. Gouache on paper, 18 5/8 x 17 5/8 inches. Collection of Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, 21c Museum Hotels. Image © Amy Cutler, courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.
Amy Cutler, Realignment, 2009. Gouache on paper, 18 5/8 x 17 5/8 inches. Collection of Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, 21c Museum Hotels. Image © Amy Cutler, courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.
Amy Cutler, Dinner Party, 2002. Gouache on paper, 44 x 50 1/2 inches. Collection AG Rosen, New Jersey. Image © Amy Cutler, courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.
Amy Cutler, Dinner Party, 2002. Gouache on paper, 44 x 50 1/2 inches. Collection AG Rosen, New Jersey. Image © Amy Cutler, courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.

Videos

Virtual Visit with Amy Cutler

Virtual Tour

Educational Resources

DIY: Amy Cutler-Inspired Windchimes

Exhibition Catalogue

Front cover of Amy Cutler exhibition catalogue

Amy Cutler: A Narrative Thread, was published by the Madison Museum of Contemporary in conjunction with the artist’s 2021 exhibition of the same name. Based in Brooklyn, NY, Cutler has garnered critical acclaim for her immaculately detailed and narratively enigmatic works of art. Her contemplative and psychologically charged compositions act as abstracted metaphors that reflect the artist’s personal experiences and anxieties.

As an homage to Cutler’s creative process, MMoCA commissioned five female authors—Chloe Benjamin, Lydia Conklin, Krista Eastman, Lauren Groff, and Suzanne Rivecca—to write short stories about several of the paintings included in the exhibition.

This fully illustrated publication was designed by Art & Sons, the Madison-based collaborative studio of Drew Garza, Scott Paulie, and Jerry Chapa; the catalogue also includes an essay by MMoCA Curator of Exhibitions Leah Kolb, who organized the exhibition.

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Programming & Events

Artist Talk with Amy Cutler
Friday, April 30, 2021 • 5:30–6:30 PM

Press

Press Release

Amy Cutler: A Narrative Thread Press Release

Press Coverage

Amy Cutler’s ‘A Narrative Thread’ at MMoCA paints a resilient picture
– The Cap Times

Support

Presenting Sponsorship for Amy Cutler: A Narrative Thread has been provided by The David and Paula Kraemer Fund.

Major Sponsorship has been provided by Gina and Michael Carter; and the Steinhauer Charitable Trust; with additional support from Dane County Arts with funds from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation, the Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of the Capital Times, the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation, and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation; Timothy McIlwain at Lincoln Financial; and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.