Hills Snyder: Garage Optimism
Patrick Gallery Austin, TX
September 10 – October 10, 1987
June Rise Ramble, an exhibition of new work from Montana by Hills Snyder, opened at The Custer County
Art Center in Miles City March 26 of this year. The Patrick Gallery will bring this work to Austin opening
September 10 under the title Garage Optimism, defined by the artist as a “mental attitude, a way of
subjecting the shed to a little light; the artist as garage band, accessing pioneer energy in an effort to
paint cynicism into a corner; the artist as mechanic or inventor, tinkering around in the garage, creating
something with purpose out of the never-was or used-to-be. Baling wire magic.” Garage Optimism consists of eleven works, which play out a personal drama that is guided by metaphor
and mythical insight. A drawing in colored pencil, All Alone In Romance, was inspired by a trip the artist
took to Devil’s Tower in the summer of 1986. While Hills was on the road, a 1957 Marty Robbins tune* echoed
the lyrics, “all alone in romance” from the radio, conjuring much of the imagery that permeates the drawing
--- a tattered white coat with severed arm nailed and tied to an overbearing red cross; a pink carnation laid
ritualistically at its base. These elements are combinedwith an image of a tiny ICBM missile that shoots
through a “launch window” in the center of the cross, simultaneously suggesting containment and
release. The overall effect is that of a lurid, twilit world where the sun never sets and the night never ends. From liner notes provided by the artist: "Propelled across the surface of the planet in a vehicular tin can, driving on auto-pilot, my mind and awareness
were lost as though contained in the machine-like body of an ant ambulating upon the surface of what turned
out to be my own dear skull. Thoughts of a dreadful nature lurked in cavities below --- waiting to be
released from their silos in bursts of shooting chaos. Devil’s Tower loomed in the distance like the thumb
of a gigantic buried hitchhiker. What’s going on?, I thought, pulling off the road, regaining my human.
Stepped out of the van, observed some gum wrappers tangled in the brush, shook the ants out of my hair
and drove on… " As in many of Snyder’s drawings, the recurring element of the launch window or punctured plane focuses the
viewer’s attention near the center of the composition, away from the real events depicted in the piece. This
sleight of hand is related conceptually to the McGuffin, a well-known narrative device employed by
the late Alfred Hitchcock. Influences from movies and popular music abound in Snyder’s art and, along side
art historical and literary references, bespeak his belief in the unimportance of distinctions between high
and low art. --- Laurie Rufe *A White Sports Coat (and A Pink Carnation)
(Marty Robbins)
A white sports coat and a pink carnation
I'm all dressed up for the dance
A white sports coat and a pink carnation
I'm all alone in romance
Once you told me long ago
To the prom with me you'd go
Now you've changed your mind it seems
Someone else will hold my dreams
A white sports coat and a pink carnation
I'm in a blue blue mood.
I'm all dressed up for the dance
I'm all alone in romance
Once you told me long ago
To the prom with me you'd go
Now you've changed your mind it seems
Someone else will hold my dreams
A white sports coat and a pink carnation
I'm in a blue blue mood.
Garage Optimism
Vigil/Vanishing Point/Meanwhile, 1986
51 X 135 X 29 inches
mixed media on paper and wood, miniatures, brick, string, bullet hole
Hero As Scene Through Scream, 1986
32 X 24 inches
pencil on paper
All Alone In Romance, 1986
32 X 24 inches
pencil on paper
Canoe Exits Minotaur, 1986
23 X 12 X 7
pencil, metal leaf and epoxy on paper, wood
Trojan Horse of Love, 1987
58 X 18 X 31
wood, mixed media
Hangin’ On The Horns of A Bad Moon, 1987
43 X 22 X 24
painted wood, wire, plastic powder horn
Achilles’ Next Request, 1987
48 X 14 X 18
wood, mixed media
The Friction Line, 1987
65 X 74 X 50
travelogue photo, mixed media on wood, paper, and clay
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