Susan Rankaitis:
Photography Redefined

Artist Bio

Susan Rankaitis was born on September 10th, 1949 in Cambridge Massachusetts. She holds a B.F.A from the University of Illinois and has her M.F.A from University of Southern California.

Exhibition Statement

The work of Susan Rankaitis is not easily classified in terms of traditional artistic categories. Her art occupies a space somewhere between painting and photography. She combines the aesthetic languages of each media in a unique personal style and vision.

Rankaitis applies the term “combined media” to describe her work and process. She superimposes photographic imagery with brushstrokes of photographic chemicals and geometric forms. The resulting images oscillate between representational references and non­objective form; her work becomes a meditation on the tangible and intangible.

Like much of the art of our time, Rankaitis’ images suggest rather than depict. Her layers of form and color, her non-representational shapes and forms, her recogniz­able photographic imagery, all have equal importance in her compositions. Often her imagery is fractured or multiplied, evoking references to the modernist movements of Cubism and Futurism. Her brilliant gold washes bring to mind the splendor of Byzantine mosaics. Her use of gigantic scale and expressive brushwork are reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism.

She combines these references with her own unique process. In the final analysis, she can best be described as a visual artist, one who communicates the mysteries and poetry of the world in visual terms, terms that redefine the limits of both painting and photography. Rankaitis is, as she notes, “a painter drawn to the alchemy of the photographic process.”

Back to Past Exhibitions