Amy Tsui's untitled cutout piece.

Amy Tsui’s untitled cutout figure piece consists of a partially unrolled roll of paper that has been meticulously cut to depict a female body in pose. Behind the roll is a black sheet of paper to provide contrast and bring out the cut out form. The piece is hung on the wall in traditional art display, immediately throwing the viewer into a position objectifying the female form as an art piece.

Formally, the piece is constructed in a beautiful and attractive way, which is appropriately conducive to the theme of objectification of women. The flow of the line effectively draws attention and encourages eye movement across the piece in a way that references an objectifying gaze. This effect is enhanced with the multiplication of lines to create striped pattern, which grabs our attention. There is also a sense of volume created from the bend in the lines that challenges the flat plane of the paper, and gives mass to the form. Approaching this piece from the side will reveal that the paper is, between cuts, bending inward and outward as well, creating three-dimensional depth.

I feel that this piece most strongly references the sexuality and attention grabbing aspects often found in magazine advertisements, as well as the work “Cut Piece” by Yoko Ono. Ono’s piece may have a stronger reaction, but it illustrates the anxiety that comes from any relation between the act of cutting and the human body. This sensation brings out a violent side to Amy’s piece, which is additionally referential to work from the feminist art movement, as many feminist art works dealt with violence against women. This sensation of violence, coupled with the focus on form and body, creates an interesting dialogue that references issues such as: the pressures of fitting an idealized body image, resulting from conceptions of what is attractive in media and advertising; the resulting problems that arise from these pressures, the self-mutilation of mind and body.

Aspects of this piece such as the roll encroaching on the form and the curving of the paper, I think are helpful in reinforcing the idea that the female form is subjected to the decisions of others, or the curvature of the paper.

-Matt Mertes