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Randy Lee Cutler at Wil Aballe Art Projects | WAAP

May 28, 2021

Artist: Randy Lee Cutler

Exhibition title: OTOH (On the Other Hand)

Venue: Wil Aballe Art Projects | WAAP, Vancouver, Canada

Date: April 24 – May 29, 2021

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Wil Aballe Art Projects | WAAP, Vancouver

OTOH (On the Other Hand) is a collage series that began in response to the COVID 19 pandemic. As thoughts of hand washing, fear of touching surfaces and a general lack of physical intimacy informed daily life, Cutler found herself constructing a visual syntax that embraced ciphers, sign language and writing across diverse cultures. Working with gifted and thrifted national geographic magazines, she embraced the virus by channelling its RNA code to cast spells through hieroglyphic forms. By bringing disparate elements together into new configurations, an emergent lexicon is cast of human gestures and cultural artifacts. These sparse, abstract images operate as a kind of writing, open to interpretation while resonating our shared desire for pattern, recognition and meaning. The series, comprised of more than 70 images represent a form of personal intuition that is likely a collaboration with the unconscious. Each collage evades understanding while simultaneously inviting a personal connection to its message.

Randy Lee Cutler is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice weaves together themes of collaboration, materiality, science and fiction. Working with printed matter, collage, video, and performance, she has shown work at numerous venues nationally and internationally. Exhibitions and performances include the Biennale of Sydney NIRIN 2020, Belkin Art Gallery (UBC Outdoor Artwork) and Vancouver Art Gallery among others. She recently published An Elemental Typology an artist book exploring the cultural configurations of minerals in philosophy, mining, science and spirituality. Randy is a Professor at Emily Carr University on the unceded, traditional and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaɬ(Tsleilʔ-Waututh).

Randy Lee Cutler, OTOH (On the Other Hand), 2021, exhibition view, Wil Aballe Art Projects | WAAP, Vancouver

Randy Lee Cutler, ParrotsWaving, 2020, Digital print, 68 x 47 in (172.7 x 119.4 cm)

Randy Lee Cutler, CrystalOceanSand, 2020, Hand cut collage, 25 x 37 in (63.5 x 94 cm) Framed

Randy Lee Cutler, La Petit Parisien (presented at the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, NIRIN 2020), 2019 Hand cut collage, 11 x 9 in (27.9 x 22.9 cm)

Randy Lee Cutler, Copper Sprout (presented at the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, NIRIN 2020), 2019 Hand cut collage, 4.5 x 4.5 in (11.4 x 11.4 cm)

Randy Lee Cutler, Earth Wings (presented at the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, NIRIN 2020), 2019 Hand cut collage, 9.25 x 9.25 in (23.5 x 23.5 cm)

Randy Lee Cutler, Future Minerals (presented at the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, NIRIN 2020), 2019 Hand cut collage, 10.6 x 10.5 in (26.9 x 26.7 cm)

Randy Lee Cutler, The Crystal World (presented at the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, NIRIN 2020), 2019 Hand cut collage, 9.4 x 9 in (23.9 x 22.9 cm)

Randy Lee Cutler, Pyrite Worker, Hard Rock Flag, Fox Camouflage (presented at the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, NIRIN 2020), 2020, Digital print posters, open edition, 23.5 x 16 in (59.7 x 40.6 cm) each