SYDNEY CORTRIGHT

To render the works on paper in the show, the artist examined numerous images of butterflies from field guides and biological illustrations in order to create a watercolour collage of various wing patterns. In Diaethria astola, 2023, for example, we see clusters of orange, yellow, pink, and blue. Although titled after a single butterfly, each paper piece comprises a conglomeration of species, generating an invented fantasy creature. In these pieces, many distinct, saturated colours come together on a single plane, unlike the all-blue muslin paintings Celastrina lucia, 2022, and Speyeria diana, 2023. Inspired by butterflies from the artist’s garden growing up, these two pieces feel like meditations on blending, with tones of navy, cobalt, cerulean, and turquoise. Finally, in Zerene cesonia, 2023, titled after the Dog Face Butterfly, we see particularly opaque swathes of yellow, peach, brown, and blue. Most of the delicate muslin is covered in acrylic, ink, or Flashe, with negative space appearing primarily just at the borders. The work is bold and fiery. There is a definitiveness to the strokes and shapes. Even the accidental drips feel confident and self-certain. And still, we also see softer moments of more careful, detailed strokes; the paler passages tell a lighter, airier story. Nature, as seen in Cortright’s work, is both benevolent and cruel.