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.

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.”

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.