westbeth gallery: judy cuttler

2 July – 17 July 2011

AFTER GRANT WOOD collage on board

Paintings and Collages of Iowa and the Midwest

Judy Cuttler’s second solo exhibition at the Westbeth Gallery opens Saturday, July 2nd at Westbeth Artists Housing in Lower Manhattan. Based on images of the Midwest and the poetry of Donald Justice, who taught for many years at the famed Iowa Writers Workshop, these new works range in subject matter from the floods of 2008 to the farm country of Iowa to Cuttler’s early years in Michigan.

In homage to Justice, remembered from a reading long ago in downtown Iowa City, Cuttler has borrowed the titles of some favorite poems, including “Crossing Kansas By Train” and “Poem to be Read at 3 a.m.,” from American Sketches.

This is Cuttler’s fifth solo exhibition in New York City, where she has also shown at the Bowery Gallery and Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy. Her work has been included in group shows in New York and around the country, and cited in publications including Cynthia Maris Dantzic’s 100 New York Painters by Schiffer Publications Ltd., where Cuttler’s “High Line Triptych” is featured on the title page as well as in the text.

The catastrophic Midwest floods of summer 2008 figure prominently in some paintings and collages in Cuttler’s current show. Some of the worst flooding severely damaged the University’s Arts Campus, where Cuttler, daughter of the late art historian Charles Cuttler, spent childhood years auditing courses in studio and art history. In response to the disaster, Cuttler has turned flood images into studies of color and expressionism, which draw on a deep, personal sense of loss.

Tragically, almost exactly three years later, flooding has returned to Iowa, where relief efforts are now underway. Cuttler has provided a link on her website, www.judycuttler.com, for those who wish to contribute to a rebuilding fund for the School of Art and Art History in Iowa City through the University of Iowa Foundation. Donations can also be made to support current victims of the Midwest floods through the American Red Cross on its website, www.redcross.org.

A reception for the artist will be held on Saturday, July 2nd from 5-8 pm in the Westbeth Gallery and a closing reception on Sunday, July 17th, from 3-6 pm; the show continues through Sunday, July 17th.

Westbeth Gallery

Located one block south of West 12th Street between Washington and Bethune in the Far West Village, the gallery can be reached by subway to West 14th Street. Gallery hours 1-6pm, Tuesday through Sunday; closed Monday. < For further information: 917.715.8370; judycuttler.com; westbeth.org; schifferbooks.com.