Clinton Snider’s beautifully-realized paintings examine issues of social and environmental transformation in Southeast Michigan. Often his works talk to their interconnectedness.
Little pink houses neatly line the background. On closer inspection, there’s evidence of disrepair and decay punctuated in the grey, aging garage. Two girlfriends focus the center in their pre-teenage calm before The Coming Storm. Affection lingers in the embraced family cat, who, sensing what’s on the close horizon, is eyeing escape routes.
The Zone feels narrowly post apocalyptic with an ominous concrete building hulking in the background uncertain in its state of employment. A delicate sparrow has chosen to make its home in an obsolete utility box rather than the barren tree that eerily frames the necessary reuse/recycle scenario. Life holds fast in green ground cover while a cat hatches its next meal plot.
Snider’s palette of pink, turquoise and a wide spectrum of greens would ordinarily create a sense of thriving life. He’s dirtied this palette and combined them in a way that sets the images on a foreboding edge. The occasional flash of out-of-the-tube brightness keeps it all from going fully nihilistic. The Underground’s perceived mundane subject is discovered to be Opera worthy. The abandoned plant discarded in the trash is singing its final heart-wrenching aria while the perpetrator’s swift flight leaves a cigarette burning on the window sill. Bastard.
Green Acres gratefully lightens the mood with a patch of sky blue, a touch of pink in the wooden fence and the greens have brightened considerably in this well-kept home. The unusual color combinations, albeit subtle in this picture, mostly cloudy conditions and leafless trees save the piece from merely reproducing an attractive property.
Throughout Snider’s narratives concerning the increasingly volatile environment, he sneaks in messages of hope. Like a rain barrel demonstrating a move toward water conservation, the value in a strong friendship and the comfort of home whether nest or building. The level of a picture’s brightness correlates with the connection to the subject. The Coming Storm features one of Snider’s daughters, so even in the face of the looming teenage drama, the palette is brighter than The Zone. His painting style rounds out the edges granting a softer keel. Despite a few weeds and trees waiting to leaf out—I’m going with that versus dead—Green Acres is the place to be.
On view through October 31st at detroit contemporary 487 W Alexandrine
Artist Talk October 24th 4P-6P
*images are mine
Indicates a direct quote from gallery or artist statements
SHOWS OPEN THIS WEEKEND