Vocabularies of Metaphor is an exhibition of works on paper by
fifteen international artists exploring narrative through
symbolic vernacular. The visual language of each artist is
highly personal and lyrical. The stories, which are also original
to the artists, are coded and may be interpreted in many
ways.

The artists’ (and curator’s) choice of exploring the intimacy of
drawing/painting on paper gives the viewer a voyeuristic
glimpse into private moments. And the presentation of a
series of works by each artist enables the viewer to observe
mutating idioms and to decipher the lexicons of personal
expression.

Amy Cutler meticulously renders enigmatic characters
engaged in inexplicable activities. Surreal and fantastic, they
have the character -- playful yet menacing -- of age-old fairy
tales.

Fay Ku subverts the Edo Period tradition of ukiyo-e –
“pictures of the floating world” – to produce ethereal but
anxiety-ridden images of child-women precariously inhabiting
a place between myth and reality.

Trained as a miniaturist in her native country, Pakistan,
Shahzia Sikander combines cultural iconography from Islam,
Hinduism and the West with her own musings about identity
and transience.

Ruth Marten draws on antique etchings. Literally. The
etchings, often of scientific subjects, are of dubious accuracy.
Marten’s interventions further propel the imagery toward the
fantastic, though where one leaves off and the other begins
is not easy to discern. Like a child’s game of “telephone,” or
the Surrealists’ “exquisite corpse,” the process yields
delightful perversity.

For Liliana Porter, the found object constitutes a vocabulary.
Her mixed media works join three-dimensional objects to a
two-dimensional surface to create witty and poignant
vignettes.

Yuka Yamaguchi’s delicate colored-pencil drawings are often
surreal self-portraits of her emotional existence -- like if Frida
Kahlo made manga.

In Ukranian-born Yelena Yemchuk’s watercolor paintings,
ordinary people find themselves in extraordinary situations.
The roots are in Eastern European folklore, but the vision is
in the vein of Hieronymus Bosch. These could be illustrations
for Bulgakov‘s “The Master and Margarita” -- but they’re too
weird.

Rachell Sumpter’s atmospheric gouache and pastel works
reference documentary photography while they hint at the
sublime. Dwarfed by the Northern expanses they populate,
her characters intently engage in purposeful activity. Could it
be ritual? When does habit overtake reason? These fables
may or may not have happy endings.

Other artists in the exhibition include Baseera Khan, Crystal
Liu, Henry Darger, Rob Matthews, Sara Stites, Charlotte
Schulz and Seonna Hong.

The exhibition program will include a series of readings of
short stories by their authors. The series is curated by
Pamela Feinsilber and will include Yiyun Li (10 September
6.30 pm), Daniel Alarcon (24 September 6.30 pm), Eric
Puchner (15 October 6.30 pm), Barry Gifford (29 October
6.30 pm) and others.