Stephanie Hightower’s colorful, blunt paintings and prints roughly made, indirectly consider the position of gay women today; the images Vrachopoulos has chosen to come from a series done in 1998-99 and reflect the identity art being made at the time. Figures hover close together; birds with long tails dwell in attics; a drawn chess piece stands next to a photo of a stone head from classical times. These images are not directly addressing New York’s queer community, but it is easy for Hightower’s audience to associate her imagery with a strong insertion of personal identity. It is interesting to consider the artist’s work as that of someone strongly independent, and it is particularly exciting to see her work as figurative in nature--perhaps the best way to intimate her personal existence.

“Polycentric, Dialogic and Relational” Art by John Jay Faculty
Jonathan Goodman, New York 
Tussel Magazine, December 2020