Opener 14
Dean Snyder: Almost Blue

Born in Philadelphia in 1953, artist Dean Snyder grew up on a farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and spent family summer holidays on the boardwalks and arcades of the New Jersey shore — where the bright lights and seductive displays of the carnival sideshows left lasting memories. The tidal push-pull between attraction and repulsion, the potent mixture of pleasure and risk, and the fine balance of sunshine and noir that is found there has fueled Snyder’s work from the start. After art school training and years of studio work, Snyder became known for sculptures crafted of wood and rawhide, some literally tattooed with fantastical drawings. Almost Blue debuts a new body of work made over the past year and a half: it is the culmination of a decade of studio experimentation and marks the unveiling of a dramatic new phase in the artist’s work.

These new sculptures represent a fusion of organic sources and high-tech materials, using carbon fibers for structure and glossy auto enamels to dazzling visual effect. Eye-popping color is the most striking new element in the exhibition. Constructed of epoxy composites, woven carbon fibers, cast optical resin, and laser-cut stainless steel, these works may be coated with as many as twenty layers of metallic-flake paints in the kind of luscious candy colors often seen glittering on hot rods and surf boards.