“Ashleigh Bartlett takes a macro lens close-up on cartoon imagery to source elements she proposes as a viable span across the frequently examined line between representation and abstraction. In the already mimetic—reductive yet amped-up—world of the cartoon, Bartlett’s selective mimetic operations create oscillating conversations between references. Her application of paint furthers this vacillation, as she plumps up limpid viscosity with medium to edge her applied blobs towards the sculptural. Thereby a second dialogue is created, here between types of material and how they are symbolically positioned—painting of the world, sculpture in the world.”

-Katie Bethune-Leamen