BUTTERFLIES DON'T COUNT MONTHS

Sara Cutler | Butterflies don't count months | 30.01.2025 - 01.03.2025

Inspired by a quote from the poet Rabindranath Tagore, Sara Cutler's solo exhibition 'Butterflies Don't Count Months' explores the themes of metamorphosis and the human capacity for change and renewal. The works examine these concepts from both personal and collective perspectives, encompassing physical and spiritual dimensions. Created over the past two years, the pieces reflect Cutler's transformative journey into motherhood and the turbulent realities of life in Israel since October 7th. These pivotal experiences have profoundly shaped her work, resulting in a meditative exploration of resilience, rebirth, and the beauty inherent in moments of transition.

This new body of work marks a departure from her earlier focus on more figurative forms. By embracing the ephemeral, her paintings allow space for ambiguity and imagination, embodying a sense of uncertainty—both personal and collective. Through this shift, Cutler seeks solace amidst chaos, offering viewers a glimpse of the hope that can emerge from transformation.

Cutler's dynamic paintings and fragmented compositions pulse with life. Forms appear to breathe, twist, and evolve on the canvas, capturing the vitality of the human body in perpetual motion. Movement is central to her practice, serving as a lens through which she contemplates the fluidity of existence. This focus often draws inspiration from dancers, whose ability to express emotion through motion symbolizes for Cutler the ongoing process of transformation.

A recurring motif in her work is the human hand, depicted in expressive, larger-than-life forms. These hands convey gestures of protection, peace, despair, hope, and creation, embodying the idea of change and renewal through movement.

In a contemporary art context, transformation is often explored through sculpture or non-human forms, as seen in the work of artists like Sigalit Landau or Marguerite Humeau. In contrast, Cutler uses the human form in motion to delve into spiritual and psychological transformation, challenging the boundaries between the physical and the metaphysical.

Her creative process begins with a gesture—a loose sketch or an impression of movement. Working in layers with oils, she investigates how forms interact, dissolve, and reemerge. The resulting works are a dance of textures and hues, where human figures merge with their surroundings to evoke both vulnerability and strength. Through bold brushstrokes, Cutler blurs the lines between figuration and abstraction, emphasizing the materiality of paint and its capacity to capture energy, emotion, and joy.