What the critics say about Susan's Work

Angela Adams, Guest Curator
Susan Goldman, Recent Monotypes, Emerson Gallery, McLean, Virginia 1993

Susan Goldman’s monotypes are rich, densely packed arrangements of form, color and texture.  Using what is known as a multi-drop process, Goldman builds the surface of her composition by printing successive layers of transparent inks onto a single sheet of paper.  The two-dimensional format is misleading and belies this laborious act of layering. 

“I create images out of symbols, colors, patterns,and textures, by literally pressing together and embedding one into another,” says Goldman.  The act of choosing and arranging these elements is largely intuitive.  She explains:  “I am playing the role of the archeologist, recovering information as I journey through these layers to discover the meaning of my personal artifacts.”

Goldman’s particular interest is the human (especially female) form.   Drawing upon a myriad of sources, she interchanges renditions of the stylized “Hottentot Venus” with elongated, gender-neutral figures and torsos that appear to be more real than the standard Western ideal (flat-chested with flabby tummies, large buttocks and thighs).   Other reoccurring forms include flowers, reptiles, birds and mammals, as well as geometric shapes, such as wavy lines, crescent moons, spirals and concentric circles and diamonds.  Goldman welcomes the fact that some of these forms have cross-cultural significance, appearing as popular design motifs and shared shorthand for water (wavy line), life cycles (spiral) or the interrelatedness of all things (concentric circles).

Her compositions balance a serial repetition of forms with random asymmetry.  When repeating the same shape in a frieze-like manner over a varied background, the effect recalls the passing of time or changing of the seasons.  In contrast, the rhythmic interplay of shapes and overlapping veils of color in certain works appear to have a formal rather than narrative significance.  Goldman’s selective wiping of the printing plate creates soft and luminous effects, lending a spectral quality to her forms.  (Ironically, this same gesture serves to render her forms more three dimensional.)  Goldman further suggests a liminal quality by obscuring vivid hues with layers of darker color.  At the moments when these patches of color are allowed to peak through, the contrast appears like a flash of supernatural light, alluding to the existence of things unseen.