Dissolution is both a technique and a theme for Susan Harrington. She favors the diptych format, usually making one of the images a face seen close-up. Many of these she renders loosely, which leaves them blurred, fading into or out of our awareness. Harrington also employs cross-hatching to suggest the art historical sources of some of her figures, but at times she lets even that dissolve into an indistinct pattern. In When Pairs Conspire, 1989, tiny figures placed against the landscape seem on the verge of being swallowed up. Their small outlines appear as generalized silhouettes.

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