JAMES GALLERY 307 sul ross | houston 77006 | 713.942.7035 www.jamesgalleryhouston.com

CHRIS SAUTER | CROPDUSTER | HILLS SNYDER
12 JANUARY – 24 FEBRUARY 2001
opening reception | 12 january, 6-8:30pm

In Cropduster, Chris Sauter and Hills Snyder coordinate their highly individual works in a new exhibition
that exploits the residential origins of James Gallery.  Two story tellers of the first order, they stage
manipulated household furnishings in living,TV and dining room installations, resulting in an
exhibition-cum-living space ideal for contemporary art viewers and cultural anthropologists alike. 

As Snyder says “The project is more a coordinated collaboration by proximity than a two-artist show
and explores a mutual interest in Americana and possibly exposes our rural roots as both of us were
born on a mountaintop in Tennessee,albeit two decades apart.”

Sauter is a self-taught upholsterer, employing the methods of that trade in his works which
combine human-scale furniture with miniatures adapted from model railroading, while Snyder
uses industrial plastics and tries to touch the materials as little as possible, inverting the traditional
notion of craft.

Snyder refers to his method as Hand Not Hand and likens it to the story of John Henry, the
fastest steel driving man, who was eventually overtaken by a machine. In this methodology
he hand-makes wooden templates which are subjected to an industrial process yielding the
plexiglas images seen in the exhibition. The barest outline retained in the plastic is all
that remains of his hand.

Sauter sees himself as a miner of sorts, prospecting for biology through layers of culture deposited
over time within the home. He presents his finds as deliberately upholstered furniture paired with
models of industrial or geological processes.  Each specific piece of furniture and correspondent
model acts as a stand-in for ideas surrounding these chosen items.

Cropduster

Living Room

Hills Snyder / Fringe, 2001                            
Vanilla Pride air fresheners
Dimensions variable

Hills Snyder / Blood of the Lamb That Bit You, 2001                
Red acrylic sheet on birch support
60 1/2” x 42 1/2” x 3 1/8”

Chris Sauter / Factory: Mauna Loa Loveseat, 2000                
Upholstered loveseat, foam
32 1/2” x 64” x 37”

Chris Sauter / Factory: Kilauea Coffee Table, 2000                
Wood
24” x 19” x 48”

Hills Snyder / Coda, 2001                            
Red, white and blue acrylic sheet
Dimensions variable

Hills Snyder / Big Light Kandy Korn, 2001                    
Yellow, orange and white acrylic sheet on birch support
20 1/2”  x 14 1/2” x 5/8”

Hills Snyder / My Cup Runneth Over, 2001                    
Blue swirl acrylic sheet, plaster
28” x 12” x 16”

TV Room

Chris Sauter / Observatory: Mauna Kea Recliner, 2001            
Upholstered recliner, foam, sculpy
38” x 35” x 60”

Hills Snyder / Manifest, 2001                            
Singed fluorescent red vinyl
70” x 54”

Hills Snyder / Fact Finding Mission, 2001                    
Ed. 10                                        
Fluorescent red vinyl, TV with stand
33” x 20” x 17”

Hills Snyder / Guilt, 1994                        
Red acrylic sheet on birch support
28” x 17” x 3 3/8”

Hills Snyder / Fortune Hunter, 2001                    
Black acrylic sheet on birch support
16” x 35” x 5/8”

Dining Room

Chris Sauter / Leaf, 2000                            
Wood, wire, artificial trees
42 1/2” x 13 1/2” x 9 1/2”

Hills Snyder / Sputnik, 2001                            
Blue and blue mirrored acrylic sheet on birch support
47” x 47” x 2 1/8”

Chris Sauter / Refinery, 2000                            
Dining room table, chairs, cloth, mixed media
45” x 62” x 62”

Hills Snyder / Lies and Whispers, 2001                    
Blue and pink transparent acrylic sheet
Dimensions variable

Furnace Room

Chris Sauter & Hills Snyder / Radiator, 2001                    
Mirrored acrylic sheet, heater, painted wood
47 1/2” x 42 3/4” x 51 1/2”