* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Annie Vought ss an artist based in Oakland California. Her work explores peoples emotional artifacts, specifically the and handwritten letter. She has a far reaching presence on the web and has exhibited extensively. In 1999 she co-directed The Budget Gallery: a roving art gallery in San Francisco as well as Boathouse Gallery. In 2009 Annie received her MFA from Mills college. Annie was raised in Santa FE New Mexico. She grew up surrounded by the arts. Her father is a painter and her mother and Step father are musicians. She now lives in Oakland with her husband and large dog.
Annie says this about her work: “In my work I recreate notes and letters that I have found, written, or received by enlarging the documents onto a new piece of paper and intricately dissecting the negative spaces with an Exact-o knife. The handwriting and the lines support the structure of the cut paper, keeping it very strong, despite its apparent fragility. The sculptural quality of the letter allows the viewer to examine the care it took to render each piece in relationship to what is actually being said. The cutting is a way of focusing on the text and structure of the letter – an elaborate investigation into the strange properties of writing. The writer’s penmanship and word choice lead to a contemplation of the beauty of language and the limits of the paper. I believe that I am just beginning to understand paper as a medium – its strength and fragility. I want to expand the limits I know of paper. I want to continue to experiment with size, layers, and new techniques and I am excited at the prospect of investigating the ghosts of war in a place that has its own ghosts.”