Amy Cutler is a contemporary artist born in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1974. Cutler is an internationally known artist and is represented by the Leslie Tonkonow Gallery in New York City. She received her BFA degree from The Cooper Union School of Art, New York, New York, in 1997. Since her graduation she has rapidly risen to critical acclaim, and her work has been featured in major surveys of contemporary art, importantly the 2004 Whitney Biennial.
Inspirations
The characters in Cutler's prints and paintings will often be wearing elaborately patterned clothing. Cutler utilizes culturally-inspired patterns from women's clothing from around the world. She draws inspiration from sources as varied as U.S. military survival manuals, nature books, Japanese woodblock prints, Persian miniatures, and Indonesian designs. She admits that she isn’t necessarily “true to the source” as she picks and chooses elements from the source material, while also expanding on it. Ceremonial textiles based on Indian and Chinese designs are worn by some of the characters Cutler has created. The artist has stated that some of her work is inspired by her rejection of traditional gender roles in her 30s, when she chose to buy her own house instead of getting married and having children. Motherhood, though an inspiration for several of her works, is shown from a third-party perspective as the artist is now a mother. She has said of her art involving motherhood that “You ignore the woman...the woman is the life support".
Themes
Cutler's drawings, paintings, and prints often focus on groups of women, dressed in Victorian style clothing, doing familiar "women's work". Using this, she creates strange narratives that play off of known fairy tales and archetypes. Her women characters are frequently paired in scenes with household items, wild animals and hybrid creatures. Despite her figures' childlike appearances they exhibit darker themes such as poverty, social injustice and violence.
Style
Cutler's style is characterized by intricate and linear figurative drawings, her figured are often depicted with elongated noses teapot heads, and broomstick arms. Cutler's painting work features negative space frequently around her characters, showing her desire to “...get rid of the background”, which she credits for her choice to switch from painting on wood to primarily painting with gouache on paper.
