Jul 1

Michael Cutlip

Michael Cutlip is a contemporary abstract painter, printmaker, and collage artist who has exhibited across the United States especially in California in about 130 exhibitions to date since 1997, including over 20 solo exhibits. Recent solo exhibitions include features at Upstart Modern in Mill Valley, California, JayJay Gallery in Sacramento, California, and Mill Contemporary in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Michael’s works remain with notable collectors including Microsoft, Atlantis resort in Dubai, Triton Museum of art in Santa Clara, California, Bloomingdales, as well as many others. His art has been published in various magazines throughout the years with most notable publications including a critical essay by the San Francisco Chronicle and a feature in the book California, authored by Jennifer Denrow and published by Four Way Books.

The paintings, prints, and collages are studies in asymmetrical patterns and color field formations. With a rough and smeared finish as well as minimality in color and tone, these thoroughly flat compositions reflect urban grit and intentions to influence contemporary design aesthetics. Often containing uneven stripes, organic and geometric shapes, the two-dimensional works will leave the viewer with minimalistic impressions in monochromatic and tonal variation. The often rough application of the tool and imprint on the surface infuses an aesthetic in texture and the relationship between pigment and facets. While some of the works may fit classic definitions of minimalistic tendencies portraying just a couple of forms with a monochromatic finish other pieces may come off with more complexity instilling patterned visual stimulation.

Minimalism remains one of the most underappreciated art forms, however Michael has created such an advanced version of the genre to gain notable attention and recognition, as indicated by his vast resume. While difficult to understand initially, thinking about minimalism such as the case in Michael’s works, can be related to views on de-stimulating the mind. In contemporary society and the internet, everything tries to grab your attention with hyper-induced over-stimulating content which desensitizes your brain and visual sense. However, artists like Michael present works which remain more puristic in visual symphony, capturing just the essence of form and composition, de-stimulating your senses like a refreshing bottle of Evian water or luxury unsweetened tea as opposed to a sugar filled rush with an unhealthy soda.

Daily Viewing (pictured above) remains one of Michael’s most minimalistic and puristic works which best describe the traits and strengths of minimalism as indicated in the previous paragraph. The nuance and yin and yang pull of two asymmetrical monochromatic forms, roughly smeared or applied with acrylic paint creates complex and therapeutic textures. The centralized negative space forms a composition which divides our eyes between left and right, stretching our sense of unified capacity. A relaxing piece with a slight sense of stimulation in containing juxtaposition of organic and geometric angularity.

Michael Cutlip creates urbanized minimalism reflecting the almost brutalist elements of contemporary design. Like rough concrete slabs, Michael’s paintings, prints, and collages communicate the importance of the appearance of texture and minimalistic pigments in relation to emphasizing flat surfaces. With a resume a mile long and a solid, consistent body of works which reflect designed maturity, Michael Cutlip remains a leading voice in the realm of indirect contemporary interpretations of wabi-sabi, the practice of incomplete and imperfect compositions and surfaces.