JAMES GALLERY 307 sul ross | houston 77006 | 713.942.7035 www.jamesgalleryhouston.com
HILLS SNYDER: JACK
12 JANUARY – 24 FEBRUARY 2000
opening reception | 14 January, 6-8:30pm
Hills Snyder’s exhibition, JACK, consists of eleven spare, elegantly fabricated human-scale
components; an installation of drawings (Stairway To Heaven); an installation of transparent lime
vinyl bathed in light (Shade); and the ambient elements of light, color and sound. Appropriated cultural
symbols are wryly mixed with everyday objects and mischievous wordplay, then enhanced by the
inherent qualities of his favored material: Plexiglas. The resulting installation is exhilarating to behold
and full of the unexpected on a variety of levels --- occasionally catching even the artist by surprise!
At first glance, individual pieces seem simple and straightforward as the viewer lingers with the immediate
one-liner quality and seductive execution of the work. Ultimately, linguistic and visual puns, cultural
observation, and art historical referents fuse into objects and drawings rich with layered intent ---
variously described as humorous, silly, sly, provocative, sensual, ironic, political, irreverent, even
subversive. JACK is all this and more.
Hills Snyder’s recent solo exhibitions include Gloville at Casino Luxembourg, Forum d’art
Contemporain (1998) and Hand Not Hand at The Hudson (Show) Room, Artpace, San Antonio (1996),
which subsequently traveled to the Austin Museum of Art. Snyder’s work has also been included
in numerous group exhibitions, including Chromaform: Color in Sculpture (1998) curator, Frances Colpitt,
a show which will travel nationally in 2000. Snyder received an Individual Fellowship from Art Matters in
1990 and 1996 and Mid-America/NEA Individual Fellowship in Sculpture in 1995. His work has been
widely collected by individuals and institutions nationally and internationally. He lives and works in
Helotes, Texas.
From liner notes provided by the artist:
Riffing on the well-known association between pop art and early British beat groups, I offer a space
called JACK. Its constituents are loosely defined and I like the way they talk. By the way, I don’t care
to argue the difference between ‘62 and ‘69, or even ‘73 and ‘77, but I would suggest that nostalgia is not
the issue. It’s rather more passion and joy that keep me turning, and with a tip of the hat to darkness also:
midnight rambler arrived in London way before the late nineteen sixties. Same with Jack Flash. If you peel
back the layers, the thing that is rock predates the twentieth century by a long ways. I’d say it appeared
somewhere between fire and counting backwards from 2000. It’s about as nostalgic as the wheel.
Have some tea, won’t you?
JACK
Living Room
2 45s and A LP
72 x width x 6 inches
yellow and black acrylic sheet on birch support
1999
Lift
7 1/2 x 10 3/4 x 1/4 inches
blue acrylic sheet
2000
Spanner
11 x 13 x 1 1/8 inches
gold mirrored acrylic sheet on birch support
Intervention
39 x 16 x 1/8 inches
transparent fluorescent red acrylic sheet
1999
Sitting Room
Oblique
87 x 53 x 2 1/8 inches
black acrylic sheet on birch support
1998
Dancing With Mr. D
46 x 46 x 2 1/2 inches
red and yellow mirrored acrylic sheet on birch support
1999
Requiem
3 x width x 1/8 inches
red acrylic sheet, pencil on wall
2000
Touché
21 1/2 x 25 x 1/4 inches
black acrylic sheet on birch support
1999
Dining Room
Stairway To Heaven
98 5/16 x 98 5/16 inches
pencil on paper
2000
Cheshire Pie
41 x 41 x 1 1/2 inches
pink and grey acrylic sheet on birch support
1999
Funky Brolly
22 x 16 x 1/8 inches
transparent fluorescent green acrylic sheet
1999
Alcove
Shade
34 x 40 inches
transparent fluorescent lime vinyl
2000
Ambient Elements
lime green wall
The Who sample “What’s For Tea?” on 12 minute loop
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