Introduction
Amy Cutler is one of the distinguished artists that the world has ever produced. Enthusiasts know her work as typifying i.e. characterized by “unusual and strange” features. The focus of her work is on women and related gender bias in society. By embracing women in her work, she helps to underscore the repressions or abuse a woman undergoes in her daily struggle due to customary ideals of feminism. The passion expressed in her artistic work is inspired by her own personal experiences.
This paper presents Cutler’s background and points out themes associated with her works. In addition, the paper explains why her work concentrates on women. Lastly, the paper sketches the message she seeks to pass to her viewers through her focus on or use of women.
Amy Cutler’s Background
Cutler was born in 1974 and raised in New York. During her youthful years, she attended “Staatliche Hoschschule fur BildendeKunste”, in Frankfurt Germany (Cutler et al 106). From 1994 to 1995, Cutler was awarded B.F.A, an art honor from Cooper Union School of Art in New York (Cutler et al, 108). Defining recognition for Cutler as an artist came two years later in 1977 (Cutler et al 108). Cutler further progressed with her studies at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 1999 (Cutler et al 108).
Cutler’s work has gained prominence worldwide. The prominence of her work has earned her admirers from all over the world. Her work is in the contemporary art category. In exhibitions across the United States, one can find her work in the contemporary art section. Some of her notable exhibitions, that have won her many honors, include the “Whitney Biennal of 2004” and “Greater New York at PSI/MOMA” in 2005 (Cutler et al 10). Cutler, apart from group showcasing, has strived and singularly displayed her work in various places such as Kemper Museum of Modern art in Kansas City, The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and Institute of Contemporary art in Philadelphia (Cutler et al 18). Cutler’s paintings, drawings, and prints have been collected over time and are available in various centers. Some notable centers where one can find Cutler’s works include the collection of the Hammer Museums at UCLA, Metropolitan Museums of Art, Museum of Art, and many private collections (Cutler et al 7).
Themes in Amy Cutler’s Work
Through her artwork, Cutler has vividly explored several themes. She has clearly achieved this by careful use of patterning in her work. Her effective use of patterning in textiles has often intrigued and delighted her viewers. Much of her work is widely interpreted as transformational and evolutionary (Murphey 170). The work in a sense rather seeks to transform society and to change worldviews.
The second important theme in Cutler’s work is gender. Women in her work are used to portray social bias against women. For instance, her artwork showing Women with protracted noses, unendurably lengthened pigtails, teapot heads or broomstick arms shows the creative nature of the art industry. Besides, women dressing habits such e.g. dressing folk wears, strap skirts, or outfits that can be altered portray the role of women in society but also creativity in artwork (Murphey 257).
In line with transformation and rallying for change, Cutler plays around with women’s roles in her paintings. Women’s roles in her works are depicted in a humorous but degrading way. For instance, her works show women with heads like chairs and silverware. Her work is like a call to reconsider the role of women in society. She portrays women as tools; used more or less in the same way, one uses a chair, silverware, or table. By showing women with pigtails, she communicates the lowly position occupied by women in society.
Cutler has also clearly articulated the theme of fantasy in her work. She aptly reveals how the charming world of uncertainty is secured in people’s daily lives and illusions. She employs the theme by leaving the responsibility of elucidation with the viewer. Cutler has fashioned a fantasy realm that is impulsive and naive, sporadically worrying and sometimes bewildering (Cutler et al 7). Enthused by stories and pictures encountered in existing proceedings e.g. fables, personal experiences, and art history Cutler designs exhaustive, perplexing portraits of women, animals, and hybrid-beings involved in whimsical and illusory accomplishments (Schor 178).
Why Amy Cutler Paints Women
The plight of women is the inspiration behind much of Cutler’s works. For instance, unlike the traditional woman, Cutler paints women who seem freer; she paints women who have a whimsical flair about their looks. More thematically, Cutler’s women paintings have or display superior flair than the traditional women known to her contemporaries (Brooke 236). For example, one of the folk portraits she did on panes shows a sketch out of a discomfiting woman-controlled world (Cutler et al 7).
The bulk of women paintings done by Cutler depict women doing their common menial jobs such as ironing, sewing, and childbirth among others. These roles were traditionally ascribed to women. Interestingly, up to the present, the majority of people in the world believe that housework and menial childcare jobs are the only ones befitting women. In her work, for example, Cutler shows a painting of two women facing each other as if they are betrothed by a gabfest and “newborn babies” (Cutler et al 33). The women have “newborn babies” extruding from their mouths in what seems like speech bubbles made flesh.
In another painting, Cutlers paints a determined female duo staking attires to be ironed by a third woman. The third woman is depicted by Cutler as standing in a heap of clothes. Her body is portrayed blurred such that only her shabby outfits stand out (Brooke, 237). In some other paintings, using decorative wears scattered on the ground and showing other similar portraits dispatched, Cutler clearly shows the importance of women in issues related to fashion and tidiness in society (Schor 195). As an archetypical character in folktales, in each of the paintings Cutler does on women, the women tend to be identical, with unvaryingly unresponsive faces (Cutler et al 25). Conclusively, cutler uses women’s paintings to explore artistic creativity but also to portray the plight of women in society.
Amy Cutler as a Feminist Artist
Cutler has precisely solidified her paintings on paper to mesmerize many cadres of people. The woman paints, which form the majority of Cutler’s paintings, are very perplexing. The pictures are perplexing because the women are portrayed doing odd activities such as sewing tigers or inelegantly carrying secretive loads through semi-bucolic sceneries (Cutler et al 23). This is a strong suggestion that Cutler is a feminist artist.
Cutler used women in her paintings to highlight their place in society. She appears to be appealing to a world of fiction but in the course of that portrays or contrasts between possibilities for women and their current situation. Her work seems steeped towards assessing the inner states of women in the world. By portraying the inner states, she opens up the feminist world for scrutiny. All of these paintings picture the oppressions and the struggles that women in society have endured due to the effects of traditional beliefs (Cutler et al15).
Conclusion
Amy Cutler has contributed enormously to the art industry in the United States and the world as a whole. She is a champion of women’s rights because she highlights the demeaning roles of women in society through her artwork. Cutler brings out the themes of transformation and evolution, by playing around with women characters in her work. By explicitly exploring women’s issues in most of her work, Cutler is a feminist artist who endeavors to champion women’s rights in our modern society.
Works Cited
Brooke, Sandy. Drawing as Expression: Techniques and Concepts. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2006. Print.
Cutler, Amy, Freiman, Lisa D., & Bell, David Winton. Amy Cutler. Berlin: HatjeCantz, 2006. Print.
Murphey, Cecil. When a Man You Love Was Abused: A Woman’s Guide to Helping Him Overcome Childhood Sexual Molestation. Michigan: Kregel Publications, 2010. Print.
Schor, Mira. A Decade of Negative Thinking: Essays on Art, Politics, and Daily Life. North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2009. Print.