Skip to content

Amy Cutler: Limbo

DC Moore Gallery is pleased to present Amy Cutler: Limbo, the artist’s debut exhibition at the gallery, featuring new paintings on paper and drawings. Amy Cutler is represented by DC Moore Gallery in cooperation with Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects.

Amy Cutler: Limbo -  - Viewing Room - DC Moore Gallery Viewing Room

Steeped, 2023. Gouache on paper, 22 3/4 x 30 inches

Known for her intricate, narrative paintings and drawings of women and hybrid beings absorbed in enigmatic tasks, Cutler’s latest works evoke points of transition. Her reoccurring, symbolic imagery gives form to latent thoughts and feelings, building a layered world of visual metaphors. Images of horses, turtles, boats, and travelers’ bags reoccur, invoking themes of time, movement, and progress––often impeded. These surreal narratives make sharp observations about individual and collective struggles, obsessions, and dilemmas. The burdens carried and labor performed by the women in Cutler’s paintings are suspended in action, leaving the viewer to draw their own conclusions.

Amy Cutler: Limbo -  - Viewing Room - DC Moore Gallery Viewing Room

Turtle Bridge, 2023. Gouache on paper, 20 1/16 x 27 9/16 inches

Cutler often eliminates the context of setting, placing her figures in a totally white ground or sparse landscape. In her latest paintings, orange clouds and gradient skies evoke atmospheres of transition. Elongated trees emerge from the background, taking on figurative elements, and in Abettors (2024), are fully anthropomorphized into action.

In these highly detailed works, Cutler also uses textiles and patterns to create additional resonances. Through her diverse array of visual and art historical references, from Japanese Sashiko stitching and Anni Albers textiles, to American quilts and early 20th century photography, Cutler uses material culture to draw lines from the past to the present.

Amy Cutler: Limbo -  - Viewing Room - DC Moore Gallery Viewing Room

Truce, 2023-24. Gouache on paper, 21 1/2 x 28 9/16 inches

The staging of bodies in Cutler’s work shares a sensibility with contemporary dance, particularly the choreography of Pina Bausch. Elements of sound and movement are central to her compositions. Cutler comments, “I often create situations that might be the result of something breaking or collapsing. I think about what noises the objects would make and draw the aftermath. Sometimes I include things that have the capability to make loud destructive noise, such as unlit fireworks. I want to create an atmosphere that has hidden pieces of unrest.”

Amy Cutler: Limbo -  - Viewing Room - DC Moore Gallery Viewing Room

Intrepid, 2024. Graphite on paper, 20 x 14 3/4 inches

Amy Cutler’s work has been exhibited worldwide, with solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, PA, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, IA, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain. Recent solo exhibitions of her work include Amy Cutler: Past, Present, Progress at Ruby City/The Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio, TX (2023), Amy Cutler: A Narrative Thread at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI (2021), Amy Cutler at the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE (2020), and Amy Cutler: Colloquies at The Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland (2019).

Amy Cutler: Limbo -  - Viewing Room - DC Moore Gallery Viewing Room

Ida, 2023. Graphite on paper, 30 x 22 inches

Her work is represented in many public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; The Menil Collection, Houston, TX; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN; Morgan Library and Museum, New York, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; New Museum, New York, NY; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.

Downloads

Press Release

Thumb-Show

Thumb-Show Thumbnails
Abettors, 2024 Gouache on paper 22 1/16 x 30 1/2 inches

Abettors, 2024
Gouache on paper
22 1/16 x 30 1/2 inches

Inquire
Commencement, 2023 Gouache on paper 54 3/4 x 60 inches

Commencement, 2023
Gouache on paper
54 3/4 x 60 inches

Inquire
Relocation, 2023 Gouache on paper 22 1/16 x 30 1/2 inches

Relocation, 2023
Gouache on paper
22 1/16 x 30 1/2 inches

Inquire
Steeped, 2023 Gouache on paper 22 3/4 x 30 inches

Steeped, 2023
Gouache on paper
22 3/4 x 30 inches

Inquire
Foaling, 2024 Gouache on paper 21 3/4 x 14 3/8 inches

Foaling, 2024
Gouache on paper
21 3/4 x 14 3/8 inches

Inquire
Turtle Bridge, 2023 Gouache on paper 20 1/16 x 27 9/16 inches

Turtle Bridge, 2023
Gouache on paper
20 1/16 x 27 9/16 inches

Inquire
Aviva, 2024 Gouache on paper 15 15/16 x 22 1/16 inches

Aviva, 2024
Gouache on paper
15 15/16 x 22 1/16 inches

Inquire
Freya, 2020 Gouache and graphite on paper 12 x 9 inches

Freya, 2020
Gouache and graphite on paper
12 x 9 inches

Inquire
Truce, 2023-24 Gouache on paper 21 1/2 x 28 9/16 inches

Truce, 2023-24
Gouache on paper
21 1/2 x 28 9/16 inches

Inquire
Intrepid, 2024 Graphite on paper 20 x 14 3/4 inches

Intrepid, 2024
Graphite on paper
20 x 14 3/4 inches

Inquire
Ida, 2023 Graphite on paper 30 x 22 inches

Ida, 2023
Graphite on paper
30 x 22 inches

Agatha's Tree, 2023  Graphite on paper 21 1/4 x 15 5/8 inches

Agatha's Tree, 2023
Graphite on paper
21 1/4 x 15 5/8 inches

Inquire
Abettors, 2024 Gouache on paper 22 1/16 x 30 1/2 inches

Abettors, 2024
Gouache on paper
22 1/16 x 30 1/2 inches

Commencement, 2023 Gouache on paper 54 3/4 x 60 inches

Commencement, 2023
Gouache on paper
54 3/4 x 60 inches

Relocation, 2023 Gouache on paper 22 1/16 x 30 1/2 inches

Relocation, 2023
Gouache on paper
22 1/16 x 30 1/2 inches

Steeped, 2023 Gouache on paper 22 3/4 x 30 inches

Steeped, 2023
Gouache on paper
22 3/4 x 30 inches

Foaling, 2024 Gouache on paper 21 3/4 x 14 3/8 inches

Foaling, 2024
Gouache on paper
21 3/4 x 14 3/8 inches

Turtle Bridge, 2023 Gouache on paper 20 1/16 x 27 9/16 inches

Turtle Bridge, 2023
Gouache on paper
20 1/16 x 27 9/16 inches

Aviva, 2024 Gouache on paper 15 15/16 x 22 1/16 inches

Aviva, 2024
Gouache on paper
15 15/16 x 22 1/16 inches

Freya, 2020 Gouache and graphite on paper 12 x 9 inches

Freya, 2020
Gouache and graphite on paper
12 x 9 inches

Truce, 2023-24 Gouache on paper 21 1/2 x 28 9/16 inches

Truce, 2023-24
Gouache on paper
21 1/2 x 28 9/16 inches

Intrepid, 2024 Graphite on paper 20 x 14 3/4 inches

Intrepid, 2024
Graphite on paper
20 x 14 3/4 inches

Ida, 2023 Graphite on paper 30 x 22 inches

Ida, 2023
Graphite on paper
30 x 22 inches

Agatha's Tree, 2023  Graphite on paper 21 1/4 x 15 5/8 inches

Agatha's Tree, 2023
Graphite on paper
21 1/4 x 15 5/8 inches