Amy Cutler

Amy Cutler

Above the Fjord, gouache on paper

Tiger Mending, 2003, gouache on paper

Amy Cutler is a contemporary artist who makes illustrations of women, often dressed in Victorian style clothing, performing strange, cryptic tasks.

Formally she uses gouache on paper with large, white backgrounds that provide little context to the meanings. Figures are rendered simply but with exquisite detail. Her style is reminiscent of European Folk Art.

Her works have elements of humor and fairy tales.

Albert Oehlen

Albert Oehlen

Piece, 2003, oil on canvas

Mirage of Steel, 2003, oil on canvas

Albert Oehlen's paintings are neither beautiful nor seductive. Their self-consciously brutal surfaces seem to be corrupted from within, a perversion of the paintings they might have been. Link to Saatchi Gallery. 

He combines aspects of figural sexuality, mechanical distance, and painterly abstraction. It is possible to find representations of objects or figures in his mostly-abstracted works, although he exposes the limitations of both.

Formally, puddles and washes convey a refracted, dreamlike sensibility. He plays with depth perception and foreground/background relationship. Some of his compositions seem rushed and crowded, while others seem discouragingly bare.

Other works not shown here are mixed media on panel, inkjet prints, and collaborative works with other artists.

Marlene Dumas

Marlene Dumas

Marlene Dumas' paintings blur the lines of race and identity. She is interested in the ambiguous divide between the public and private self. She also includes themes of sexuality, empowerment, and exploitation.

Formally she works from photographic imagery. The emotional, carnal quality of her images redefines the content of her sources. She uses oil paint on canvas in high contrasting colors or fluid watercolor on paper.