JIM NUTT (B. 1938)

“Since 1987, Nutt has concentrated primarily on 'portraits' of women; at least all the images rely on the vocabulary of portraiture—they seem like concentrated responses to the psyche of an individual, and in their format they reflect that tradition. No sitters, however, actually pose for these images—they are all derived from Nutt’s imagination. This series has become an absorbing arena of nuance and modulation as Nutt tinkers endlessly with rivulets of hair, the architecture of physiognomy, tight ranges of color, and the evocation of mood. With their wildly exaggerated noses and rubbery features, these figures should be absurd or comic, and yet never are. Nutt makes each unique, and the depth of his concentration always imbues them with stature and presence. They are simply the most recent manifestations of an idiosyncratic vision of the very first rank.”
—J. Wood, “Jim Nutt: Milwaukee Art Museum,“ Artforum, vol. 33, no. 2, October 1994, p. 167.