Traywick Contemporary, in a special collaboration with Pacific Saw Works, is pleased to present opened and split, an exhibition of new work by Santa Fe-based artist Annie Vought. This solo exhibition of large-format works marks a significant return to the Bay Area, where the artist first developed her signature cut-paper reliefs.

Vought’s latest compositions are mesmerizing, immersive experiences that command attention both in their minute detail and their expansive presence. The labor-intensive and rigorous process behind these works involves thousands of handmade cuts into heavily worked and collaged paper to create a delicate, lace-like topography that challenges the viewer’s perception of depth and space.

While using predominantly black materials such as oil stick and graphite, the pieces are punctuated by surprising moments of color and reflective surface texture. Vought masterfully integrates pastel, sequins, glitter, and spray paint, transforming the constructed objects through a painterly, tactile approach to material. This evolution in her practice allows for a complex interplay between the graphic power of the cut-outs and the shimmering, layered surfaces.

The architecture of each piece is as calculated as it is poetic. Vought utilizes a sophisticated grid system, reminiscent of an aerial view of a town, to engineer an internal support structure for the intricate cut-work. This built-in structure allows the large-scale collages to maintain their form while appearing weightless. Within this physical structure, Vought creates a detailed narrative with embedded images such as hands, faces, eyes, houses, and canines, within a self-described “collected chaos.”

The work is a lens for feeling overwhelmed from looking at everything in our current time,” Vought explains. “Embedded within these compositions are references to mythological and iconic maternal figures—Demeter, the Virgin of Guadalupe, Thetis—whose stories hold protection alongside rupture, grief, and transformation. A contradiction runs through the work: the simultaneous acts of protecting and harming, of holding while cracking.