Karen Snouffer’s paintings and wall sculptures in “Seeking Joy” are energetic, vibrantly colourful and without the need of exception, summary.
The title of her show at the Ohio Condition University Faculty Club refers to her system and its end result — and the reaction, she hopes, of viewers.
“Because of what we’ve all been going through these last number of years — socially, politically, medically — I think searching for joy is what I have been carrying out in applying so significantly shade and motion,” Snouffer stated. “Am I making joyful objects or is the pleasure in the system? The joy is also up to the viewer.”
Ross Artwork Museum:Visual arts: Ross Art Museum offers contrasting exhibits checking out oppression and joy
The prevalent denominators of the 30-some functions in the show are the use of architectural illustrations or photos and an abundance of contrasting and complementary colors. Snouffer, a Gambier resident and professor emeritus at Kenyon College, mentioned she is routinely motivated by buildings and sights from destinations she has been to at home and abroad.
She created “Scaffold,” for instance, after a journey to Rome exactly where making projects involving scaffolding appeared to be just about everywhere. The acrylic painting, also constructed with stickers, glue and ink, presents clusters of exuberant prospers in orange, black and yellow — as well as a scaffold-like image.
The large “Apostrophe,” (72 by 42 inches) presents an animated apostrophe shape in opposition to an orange subject in the top left portion of the canvas.
A more compact painting, “Red Boat,” shows what may well or may well not be the red vessel as the central figure surrounded by block-like designs in a assortment of colours.
Snouffer, 75, who taught portray and drawing and has worked in figurative art, mentioned she is committed now to abstraction, a genre she finds much more creatively difficult and free.
She cites neuroscientist Eric R. Kandel’s theories involving the viewing of abstract art versus figurative works. With figurative artwork, illustrations or photos draw the viewer’s memory to people, areas or things he or she can recall. With summary art, the viewer is compelled to draw on their creativeness to come to a decision what the artwork suggests.
“I love that different folks see unique issues in my do the job, and I adore that in some cases they shell out time with a portray,” Snouffer said.
Winter reveals:3 key art exhibits taking place at Columbus museums this winter
Snouffer also plainly enjoys the elements of her function. In “Totter” and “Duck Less than,” she employs wisps of cut paper in black, yellow and grey — and in some cases even black glitter — to style movement-filled wall hangings. Yellow, she said, “can be a joyful colour or it can suggest caution and worry — and it works artistically with black and grey.”
Several extra elements are discovered in the wall sculpture “Push Out,” a black-and-white aid loaded with lacy paper, black fuzz, a black-and-white checkerboard and even replicas of cicada wings.
As generally, Snouffer invites her viewers to discern meaning in her will work. She has researched and explored the chaos principle and enjoys the notion of and introducing contradictory themes in her function. She is relentlessly curious and experimental with components and themes, all of which add to the delight she finds in creating art.
As a septuagenarian, she states, “I plan to be accomplishing this for a different 20 a long time.”
“Seeking Pleasure” is a worthwhile intention for the artist and those who examine her do the job.
At a glance
“Seeking Pleasure: Karen Snouffer” carries on by way of Feb. 18 at the Ohio State College Faculty Club, 181 S. Oval Drive. Hrs: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Masks are needed. For details, call Lisa Craig Morton at 614-309-0191 or visit www.ohio-statefacultyclub.com.
