Drawings by Amy Cutler

September 4 - December 15, 2002

The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at the University of Pennsylvania is pleased to present the first one-person museum exhibition of drawings by Amy Cutler. Presented in the ICA's Project Space, this exhibition continues the museum's tradition of exhibiting the work of talented emerging artists.

Amy Cutler
Dinner Party (detail), 2002
Gouache on paper
Courtesy of the artist and Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, NY New York

Cutler (b. in 1974, Poughkeepsie, NY, lives and works in New York) has had one-person gallery exhibitions at Miller Block in Boston, Massachusetts and at Leslie Tonkonow, Artworks + Projects in New York. She has also participated in group exhibitions at The Brooklyn Museum of Art and the New Langton Arts in San Francisco. This exhibition is curated by Elyse Gonzales, Assistant Curator, ICA.

In her finely crafted, highly detailed drawings, Amy Cutler creates surrealistic worlds where girls roost in trees like birds and women have tea kettles for heads. Floating in the midst of crisp, white paper, Cutler's scenes resemble children's illustrations that hark back to the Brothers Grimm. While these drawings are not meant to be literal translations of stories, they do speak to the tradition of storytelling that forms a part of childhood. In exploring these ideas Cutler has developed her own personal symbolism and her fantasies unfold with a recklessness that is both easy and inscrutable.

ICA acknowledges the generous sponsorship of Mr. & Mrs. Berton E. Korman. We are also grateful for funding provided by Elaine and Melvin Finkelstein and the members of the Philadelphia Chapter of ICA s Leadership Circle: Jill & Paul Aschkenasy; James Fulton & Eric Rymshaw; Carolyn & Michael Jacobs; Kirk Kirkpatrick & John Wind; Suzanne & Jeffrey Koopman; Norma & Larry Reichlin; Alan Sandman & John Pcsolar; David & Sandi Slap; Mr. & Mrs. Michael Sloane; Joel Assouline & Vibeke Lichten; Mr. & Mrs. David Baraky; Mr. & Mrs. Christopher Born; Carolyn Gould; Mr. & Mrs. James Korman; Mr. and Mrs. John P. Korman; Neil Nevaras & Kevin Walker; Julia Pershan & Jon Cohen; Stephen & Lizabeth Raynes; David & Lisa Seltzer; Glen T. Senk & Keith Johnson; Mr. & Mrs. Richard Wolfson; and Nancy & Michael Yecies. Additional support has been provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Dietrich Foundation Inc., the Overseers Board for the Institute of Contemporary Art, friends and members of ICA, and the University of Pennsylvania. (Information complete as of 8/7/02.)


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