The remarkable intricate details that comprise Vought’s constructions bely their own depth; tens of thousands of hand-cut fragments implore close inspection, but ultimately become consumed by the larger visual effect of the whole object. The impossibly intricate elements of Vought’s meticulous efforts are only fully realized in the full and finished works, evoking Color Field painting and the “All-Over” effect of Abstract Expressionism. Treating paper in a self-described “painterly manner,” Vought achieves an impactful sense of stenciled flatness, enhanced by the chosen medium of black construction paper displayed on a white wall. But where her previous efforts sometimes relied on paper and the X-Acto knife alone, the compositions here incorporate subtle, additional moments of color and texture on the paper’s surface, as hints of oil pastel, sequins, glitter, glue drips, and spray paint adorn the compositions and further conflate Vought’s deeply personal imagery with the constructed object.

The method herein combines Vought’s catalog of visual motifs - hands, faces, eyes, canines, houses - with refined and calculated material engineering; the structure of each work has to support the piece (“too many lines will increase sag in the finished product”), so Vought’s compositions begin on the backs of each work, adhering to a grid system akin to the view of a town from an airplane. The literal weight of each piece is supported by this internal structure, and reinforces Vought’s intention to serve as a protector, creating a sense of harmony and even calm from the collected chaos within. “The work is a lens for feeling overwhelmed from looking at everything in our current time. Embedded within these compositions are references to mythological and iconic maternal figures—Demeter, the Virgin of Guadalupe, Thetis, and others—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.”