George Frederick Snyder
-- Dr. Patricia Mathews and Stanley Mathews, AIA
Over nearly two decades, George Snyder has methodically developed and transformed a personal visual language which he uses to create metaphors for his moods and concerns. What might appear to the casual observer to be similar, almost decorative compositions, on closer inspection reveal complexities and variations in tone, content and form that suggest larger meanings -- about art and the art world, about politics, and about Snyder's personal life and experiences. Snyder's visual vocabulary is unabashedly beautiful and appealing and at the same time it is self-consciously critical of that appeal. The riotous color and dynamic forms of his works both celebrate and implicate the spectacle of mass culture to which they indirectly refer.
Within Snyder's work are metaphoric hybrids which have boundless cultural resonance in late 20th century America: the seductive appeal of publicity, the mythology of high technology and the sensual mystique of tropical sun and color. Snyder, after all, lives and works in the shadow of palm fronds on Florida's Atlantic coast, a few miles from Cape Canaveral. The imagery of his works continually allude to a synthesis of palm trees and rocket propulsion systems. This kind of synthetic duality is indeed characteristic of Snyder's work, which derives much of its energy from the tension created from a series of binary oppositions: spontaneity vs. control, chaos vs. order, hot vs. cool, flatness vs. depth, and organic variety vs. geometric purity.
The rigorous geometry and play of illusionistic space against flatness which he developed early on are ubiquitous. Typically, Snyder's use of geometry is contradictory: in his flat canvases, he makes extensive use of the Oppish three dimensional tubular forms, while in his tube constructions, he wraps flat pattern around cylindrical shapes to create form.
Deeply Atmospheric
Up for Grabs
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