Amy Cutler

Amy Cutler Alterations at Leslie Tonkonow through April 5th

The enigmatic imagery of Amy Cutler’s paintings and drawings is transformed into three dimensions in her first major work of sculpture. Alterations consists of 120 cast and painted female figures placed on top of and around a long wooden table.

The figures placed along the perimeter of the tabletop were cast wearing corduroy dresses and clogs, sitting on round stools wrapped with braided hair, with their arms extended in front of them. A complex web of strings wrapped around their arms connects each sculpture to a corresponding unraveling figure on the floor. These hydrocal casts feature the exquisite detail characteristic of all of Amy Cutler's work. Having painted the individual faces in gouache, Cutler renders each with a separate character and expression. A solitary lamp hanging from the ceiling illuminates the emotional theater in this poignant interplay of shadow and form.

Alterations was commissioned by the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, and exhibited there from July 3 through September 10, 2007. The work will enter the museum’s permanent collection at the close of this special New York presentation. Four unique hand-colored lithographs, created for the installation in Spain, will also be on view.

The New York Times review at the bottom of this page.