Dean Snyder
Joop, 2001, sewn rawhide and wood, 96" x 57" x 57", Lent by the Artist
The realm of influence that has shaped my work ranges from popular culture to my family. During my childhood I might have seen a Max Fleischer cartoon on television in the morning and witnessed my father operating on a cow later the same day. I experience consciousness as a surreal amalgam of streaming and static events with harmonic and irreconcilable traits. I argue my view of nature, as this unruly enormous mess, with drawings that map this endless stream of fluxing stuffs, where objects and life forms are engaged in a rhythmic chaotic web of perpetual unrest. The objects portray static moments out of this stream, when material properties and the physics of process merge. They then pose, alluding to the sensation of having an inner life, and appearing born, not made. These objects fascinate me. They ask more questions than they answer. I especially like it when they ask, "Where did I come from and what the hell am I doing here?"
—Dean Snyder
Many interpretations of the words "suspended animation" come to mind in describing Dean Snyder's work. Joop, pausing just after its initial launch, hovers over the floor like a hot air balloon inflated to capacity. Its wooden pipes (or arms or quills or strands of hair) have been forced up and out of its distended core. It seems as if it is holding its breath. Quite the opposite in feeling and situation, Boogle's action stops before its ultimate function could occur. It sits on the floor, bloated, constrained by its "corks," and heavy with its predicament. Forever straining at its seams—but it will never burst—it has no hope for relief.
The shapes of these sculptures and the awkward situations they endure impart them with a pathetic sadness, but at the same time they maintain a sense of pride. On the most obvious level, though, they are simply goofy, suggesting another meaning of the word "animation"—cartoon. The names of Snyder's pieces come from words that describe, among other things, the sounds each might make, much like the "BLAM" or "POW" of comic books. Puffed up, with the potential to bounce, pop, or shoot across the room, their rounded shapes reference cartoon characters and their many misadventures.
—Jennifer Uhrhane
Curatorial Fellow
Please join the artist for an informal gallery talk on Saturday, June 30 at 3pm.
