Amy Hutcheson - Playhouse on the Square, 66 Cooper Street, Memphis, Tennessee

A conversation with Memphis artist Amy Hutcheson about her forthcoming exhibition, "Transformation" at Playhouse on the Square.

DH: You have an upcoming exhibition at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis, Tennessee. When does the show open?   How many pieces?

AH: It's a beautiful new space. The show goes up September 17 and the opening reception is September 25 from 4-6 pm. The show runs through November 7. I hope everyone comes.

I am working on having 20-30 drawings/paintings for this exhibition.  The work is combination of graphite, ink and gesso on paper.

I love drawing and so this work is a natural progression for me. I sat back recently (on the advice of Fred Burton my friend and professor from college) and took inventory of the work I have done in the past 5 years.  I listed what I liked and didn't like about each series, both process and finished product. It always came back to the drawing and the work within the lines.  So I took all these thoughts and pulled them together and tried to develop a synchronicity. I think it works quite well.  This is the most personal work I have ever created.

DH: You seem to be creating in an interesting place that balances between abstraction and representation.  Almost as though the viewer is looking through several frames of film that have been stacked.  In fact, these pieces do feel cinematic.  Are there individual inspirations for the different pieces or maybe is this series a storyline with a beginning and end - or does each piece stand alone?

AH: I think it's a bit of both.  I think all work tells a story about the artist.  Sometimes it much more obvious to the viewer and other times it is only there for the artist.  I look back at work and it's like a photo album of memories for me.  Probably like how some parents look back at their child's first day of school.  I can tell you what music I was listening to, what was happening in my life when I look back at different pieces I have created.

This work is really about breaking down the obvious elements of the figure and reconstructing them in a way that creates something totally different.  I work from a reference photo for the initial drawing, but then never look at the reference again so that the image becomes totally different.  I erase and redraw and block areas out with powdered graphite, always trying to not consider the initial image and just let what I see develop.  Like a puzzle with infinite solutions.  These are all pretty large scale drawings and I really like the physical aspect of working large and just getting so lost in the work.  It overtakes you a bit.

DH: I agree with you, these pieces clearly appear more personal, there seems to be more thoughtfulness and intuition in them, than what I know of your previous work. Is it the choice of imagery in these pieces that makes it so?  Or perhaps it might be more correct to say that you are inviting the viewer to the conversation?  You seem to be interacting with the work rather than making observations.  These pieces feel vulnerable with secrets and privacies still to explore. Like the two sides of being overtaken by the work - sometimes a pleasure and sometimes a curse?

AH: Intuition is a great way to describe how it comes to me.  The image of the body is very appealing to me both in the linear aspect but also in the way certain parts of the body pique the interest of the viewer.  Letting the viewer fill in the blanks of what is going on is very fascinating to me. I think these really pull you, or at least that is my hope, and force you to discover the work over and over.

The body for me has always held allure when it comes to drawing and painting.  The reason I haven't worked with it in so long is that I couldn't find a way to really approach it in a way that was both challenging and satisfying to me.  This work does that for me in so many ways.  For instance, the initial juxtaposition of the figures to create a spacial hierarchy then letting go and renegotiating the entire piece over and over.

So yes it's a blessing and a curse I suppose...this work in a way does show a vulnerable side of me, but a very feminine side.  I think we live in a time right now where there is such a blur between the lines of feminine and masculine in our daily roles.  So when a women creates or does something described as feminine it can be viewed as weak perhaps, or, I don't know, maybe vulnerable is a better term.  I think though there is still a need for some balance in our gender roles...and vulnerable may not be so bad.

DH: Well, that can be said about a man's work, too - that vulnerable can be viewed as weak. When actually it takes considerable inner strength to get to that place where one can make art in that way.

You said these are large pieces - like how large?

AH: These are around 37 inches by 50 inches and 50 inches by 50 inches. 

DH: Thanks for the conversation.

AH: Thank you for your interest in me and my work.