-- A Cyberspace Review Of The Arts

Susan Roecker's Cat(s)

Susan Roecker

at Avenue C Gallery

by Robert Sievert

Susan Roecker is showing a beautiful set of ink drawings and woodblock prints at the Avenue C Studio (55 Avenue C) from November 18, 2012 through February 10, 2013. The space is filled with images of cats, both individual studies and composite groups of six to a sheet.They are all studies of her cat Mutz (sadly now dead) and quite remarkable for their use of black and white, silhouette and structure.

Susan Roecker: ink drawing

Each cat has a wonderfully poised attitude. Roecker captures gesture as the cat turns its head, gets ready to pounce or just settles down to take a nap.

Susan Roecker: Square Five (ink drawing)

It must be said that in many drawings the cat looks as if it is about to jump off the page

Susan Roecker: ink drawing

Cats are the most popular pet in the world, and found almost every place where people live. They were cult animals in ancient Egypt, and it is believed that cats were first domesticated in Egypt. There are wonderful examples of cats in Egyptian art. Something about a cat that lends itself to art, the line and the interplay of mass to attitude make a cat a wonderful subject for an artist to work with. There is a difference between Roecker's cats and those found in ancient Egypt: The Egyptians were not interested in realistic accounts of the cat, they were more inclined to take the cat's anatomy as a point of departure.

Susan Roecker: ink drawing

What is remarkable about Roecker's drawings is the interplay of black and white and how the positive solid blacks of the cat is expressive of the anatomy and the whites are indistinguishable as either negative space or white of the markings of the cat. Roecker manages to build the anatomy of the drawings in the simplest of means. Line exists only as the edge of mass. Each line expresses a multitude of forms piled one on top of each other but never overly complicated, they are complex while being simple.

Besides being at the Avenue C Gallery, Roecker's ink drawings and woodcuts, along with other works, can be seen on her web site, www.susanroecker.com.

Susan Roecker: woodcut

images copyright © Susan Roecker 2012

text copyright © Robert Sievert, 2012