Rachel Van Citters at Art on Center

Slightly expanded from a review by Alec Clayton published in the Weekly Volcano, Nov. 17, 2005

“Novus Ordo Seclorum” (A New Order of the Ages)
by Rachel Van Citters 

Titles of art exhibits usually don’t mean squat, but the title of Rachel Van Citters’ exhibition at Art on Center tells a lot about the form, if not the content, of her paintings. The title is “Burning Point: Through a Lens, Focusing Energy and Giving Form.” OK, I’ll admit that sounds a little pretentious, but it describes how Van Citters highlights images by focusing energy with laser intensity on selected parts of her paintings.

Formally, Van Citters’ paintings are precise. Her figures, both animal and human, are painted with flat dabs of color and unbroken contour lines, and little or no modeling or blending. They look like comic book characters. Their surroundings are rendered in collage fashion, without perspective or horizons, with images fitted into prism-like patterns. Typically, she creates surface patterns by changing light and dark areas without changing the colors. The resultant areas of light may take the form of a circle of oval in the center of the painting (like a ring of light shining in the dark), or it may take on the form of stacked rectangular or triangular planes of light. No matter the form, there are always areas of light surrounded by darkness.

The 19 paintings in the exhibition are all done in acrylic with what looks to be heavy transparent acrylic gels brushed over certain areas of the paintings. The glossy gels build up as much as a sixteenth of an inch above the surface, standing in high relief next to other areas where the paint application is so thin the canvas weave can be seen. Careful and close attention to details of brushstroke and subtle color and value changes will reveal the best aspects of these paintings.

Van Citters’ human and animal figures have big round heads and little bodies, with saucer eyes that reflect the prism-like structures of the environments they find themselves in, and mouths that look like strings of teeth stretched and bent into malevolent grins. (Her people never have noses.) These cute little critters have sometimes serious tales to tell ¾ tales of war and greed, but also simple reflections of time and place devoid of the biting satire that characterizes some of her paintings. And then there are three paintings in the show ¾ Van Citters’ latest, I am told ¾ that veer toward complete abstraction and have no recognizable figures at all.

There is a hilarious series of paintings based on our consumer culture titled, respectively, “Hel Mart,” “Cool Mart,” “Quaint Mart” and “Meat Mart.” “Hel Mart” (with one L) is a parody of Wal-Mart, with shoppers caught up in price-check hell. The others in the series all point out familiar absurdities and frustrations of shopping in mega-stores.

“Novus Ordo Seclorum” (A New Order of the Ages) has a round-headed chicken driving a Roman war chariot and flying American flags. I was told the artist referred to the chicken character as a “chicken hawk,” slang for a person who preys on young innocents. The “order of the ages” here seems to be not new at all, but the same old war mongering and lust for power we have known since the days of the Roman Empire.

“Northwest Expressions” is a light-hearted and even reverent look at the Northwest. None of the satirical intent evidenced in her other paintings can be seen here. Families of hunters and campers can be seen in a forest glade, fishing and cooking over a campfire, and surrounded by giant fir trees. Everything converges toward the center as if seen through a fisheye lens, with the outer edges being dark and the middle light. At the top, just out of reach from this woodland camp, are a city skyline and hovering airplane. The airplane (Boeing) and skyline seem to refer to Seattle, but I didn't recognize any familiar landmarks. Still, the getaway to nature so close to the city is typical of the Northwest.

Note: This final word was not included in the originally published review. I include it here because there seems to be a trend going on here (and perhaps elsewhere) that I find disturbing. It's a trend toward a kind of playful Surrealism strongly influenced by graphic novels. It doesn't have a name so far as I am aware, but seems to be everywhere. And for the most part I see it as a kind of dumbing down of art — what Roy Lichenstein was perhaps referring to when he defended Pop Art as NOT advocating International Teenagerism. 

Van Citter's paintings can easily be seen as fitting into this dubious genre, but they are better than a lot. Similarly, Joseph Park, who recently had a big show at the Frye Museum, is another working within this genre who shows talent. I am highly skeptical of Hello Kitty and Japanese Anime and, to be absolutely truthful, any pictures with cute animals or creatures (human, animal or in-between) with great big eyes. But Van Citters' humor is pointed and thoughtful, her paint surfaces are delicious, and her designs are solid. To see more of her work, visit her website here.

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© 2005 by Alec Clayton