LA TIMES ARTICLE: Complementary Visions
By JOSEF WOODARD
March 19, 1998 

Csotsits’ paintings are something else again, more controlled, and narrowly defined in their means of expression. And those means are as strangely appealing as they are diverse in their references. Her work looks at once ancient in its decorative flourish, and contemporary in its neo-psychedelic designs.

Some of the smeared paint effects recall the childish glee of “spin art,” in which paint is dripped onto paper swirling on a turntable, creating instant color kaleidoscopes. But there are other aspects of culture, fashion and art theory at work here, too.

Recurring motifs of tangly, curling tendrils put us in mind of the gaudy, embossed wallpaper of Victorian chic, the echoing patterns in fabric prints, or the ornate design aesthetics from Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Nevertheless, she doesn’t allow the decorative subtext to reign: Tension between elements gives the art its energy and power of provocation.

The dramatic “Orgy of Color” is a large square painting in which the dichotomy is especially pointed. There’s a battle going on. The fluid grace of her ornamental patterns is undermined by an unsightly, bulging pocket of yellow paint, like a wart rising from the surface. Surges of unruly visual activity also rush into the composition like drunken boors at a soiree. It’s beautiful, in a sturdy, conflicted way.

Most of all, Csotsits’ art resonates because of the uniqueness of look and function. She seems in control of a visual world of her own devising, a world that is also about surrendering control.