April 11 – May 20, 2026

Cruise Control Contemporary is pleased to announce Cat’s Cradle, a presentation of new works by Cambria-based artist Vicky Lawson, opening April 11, 2026.

Lawson’s practice is playful, tactile, and unguarded—moving fluidly between painting and object, between surface and structure. Her compositions favor bold color relationships, loose mark-making, and an almost conversational sense of form. Shapes appear, overlap, and resolve in ways that feel less designed than discovered, as if each work is the result of a sequence of small decisions made in real time.

Cat’s Cradle suggests a game—loops of string passed hand to hand, forming patterns that feel both intentional and accidental. There’s a structure, but it’s informal, dependent on touch, tension, and memory. The pattern only exists as long as it’s being held. Lawson’s work moves in that same space. Color becomes a kind of thread—pulled, layered, interrupted, and reconnected—creating compositions that hold together just long enough to be seen before shifting again.

There’s also something else in the title—a quiet acknowledgment that systems, even the ones that feel playful, can carry weight. That what looks simple might be more complex, or even fragile, underneath. Lawson doesn’t illustrate that idea so much as work alongside it, letting the materials and gestures speak without locking them into a fixed meaning.

In this new body of work, Lawson continues her exploration of color as structure, mood, and movement. Planes of color act less as background and more as active participants, holding and releasing form. Lines behave like connective tissue—sometimes binding elements together, sometimes letting them drift apart. The work resists hierarchy, offering instead a field of relationships that unfold slowly, rewarding attention without demanding it.

Like the game it references, Cat’s Cradle is ultimately about what can be made between two points—between artist and material, between object and viewer, between intention and accident. It’s a reminder that not everything needs to resolve to matter. Sometimes the pattern itself, however temporary, is enough.

Opening reception:

Saturday, April 11, 2026

5–7 PM