Cut Up/Cut Out Diversifies Exeter Art

By: Lina Huang

An oil tank, embellished with patterns of flowers and leaves, tips over in the central chamber of the Lamont Gallery. In the same room, forgotten items take new form as rolls of toilet paper are cut and displayed on an ascending pyramid of cubes. With paper, maps and tires, the works in “Cut Up/Cut Out” showcase the historic techniques of paper cutting. 

The exhibition will be on display from Jan. 21 to March 4. The exhibition, organized by Carrie Lederer, Curator of Exhibitions at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut, California, was brought to PEA by Lamont Gallery Director and Curator Lauren O'Neal. As with other exhibitions at the Lamont Gallery, “Cut Up/Cut Out” will run for a limited period to showcase artwork that is not readily accessible. 

“Ostensibly, the title ‘Cut Up/Cut Out’ refers to the tradition of cut paper, which is found in cultures across the world,” O’Neal said. “The contemporary artists in the exhibition have taken this technique beyond its origins and applied it not only to paper but to rubber, leaves and steel.”

The pieces serve as a platform for addressing nuanced issues. In one work, titled “Sweet Spill,” artist Cal Lane created an oil tank with a lace pattern in an expression of her identity as a female welder. “There’s a gendered assumption that men wield, so [Lane] took the idea of doing a decorative, lacy pattern onto steel, a material traditionally associated with male sculptors of the 1960s and 1970s, and made it her own,” O’Neal said. “But it’s also an oil spill, so perhaps she’s giving an environmental critique about our reliance on oil. However, it’s also beautiful. I like the works that have those contradictions: the beauty and critique wrapped all in one.”

Gallery Exhibitions and Collections Manager Dustin Schuetz explained that the exhibit’s goal was to expand the community’s idea of art. “Like always, it's just to broaden their view of what can be art and what is art,” he said. “[Art] can be more than just a photograph or a painting or drawing or sculpture. There are different ways to get to an end product.”

Upper Daniel Cui valued the showcase of cut paper, a medium that he had not observed extensively before. “Most artwork that you see is just really flat,” he said. “And so I thought that was really cool—how a lot of these artists pull the pieces backwards or forwards; there's a lot of depth to them. Even the ones that are flat are all really detailed, and there's so much that went into them.”

In line with the theme of this exhibit, ordinary items were painstakingly cut into animals and geometric designs. Senior Lenny Chen was similarly taken by how simple materials were used to create intricate designs. “I really like how elegant and how dynamic the show is,” he said. “It just reinforces that you can make art out of anything, even just paper and scissors, and there’s more skills than that, but it’s crazy how they made art out of something so everyday.”

Senior Annabel Lee also noted the intricacy of the work and admired the artists’ skills. “I don’t see [cut out art] very often, but if you cut something out, you can’t put it back in, and I’m amazed at the planning in that,” she said.

The wide range of mediums also appealed to viewers, including senior Lucy Sun. “I really liked the diversity—even though a lot if it is paper, there is a lot more within,” she said.

In addition to the medium, upper Christina Xiao appreciated the manners in which pieces were cut out. In particular, she highlighted a display of cash registers cut out with a topographic effect and a person's silhouette made using a map. “I liked how there were so many ways artists cut things out and arranged them,” she said. “I really enjoyed reading the messages that came with each one, which explained how the art uniquely related to the artist.”

A piece with hand-cut road maps, “Karen: Matawan, NJ” by Nikki Rosato, stood out to Director of Student Activities Joanne Lembo. “For some of my generation, I used paper maps to get from point A to point B. And it’s very interesting how the younger generation doesn’t use maps anymore,” she said.

With such unique artwork on display, Schuetz hoped that more students would come to visit. “A lot of students walk through the building but never come in,” he said. “This is a great visual resource and place to start conversations, and I hope to just get the word out for people to come in and take a moment to break from academic life—take a breather and look at some art to get inspired.”

O’Neal expressed a similar sentiment, noting the role art may have in Academy life at-large. “‘Cut Up/Cut Out’ has pieces that relate to many disciplines, but, aside from that, it is a fascinating exhibition,” she said. “It may make you curious, enrich your problem-solving skills, consider themes as varied as mortality, labor and cultural heritage—to name but a few—and expand your notion of what art is or how it is made.”