“Seeing Joan Snyder’s paintings for the first time is like looking into a partially demolished building filled with the remnants and debris of its occupants’ lives; the initial experience is that of surprise, disorientation, curiosity. It is the paradox of an intimacy aggressively exposed.”
—Marcia Tucker
Joan Snyder’s House I, executed in 1983, combines the artist’s signature postmodern abstraction and intimate symbolism. The resulting work is a captivating and emotionally powerful example from Snyder’s distinguished career. Deeply rooted in Feminism and seen as a counterpoint to the male-dominated Minimalist genre of the 1960s, Snyder’s oeuvre is a testament to artist’s mastery of a potentially chaotic vocabulary.
In the present work, the thick application of layered paints and assertive brushstrokes outline a home. The outer shells of vibrant yellow paint contrast the dark blues, blacks and purples of the interior, giving the work a pulsating sense of aliveness. Throughout her career, Snyder has leaned into creating work outside of traditional artistic movements or genres, driven in her approach to show the “anatomy of a painting” and to highlight the “different layers as it is being made."i
Snyder’s work is as much about the process of painting as it is about the result. The artist envisions her anthropomorphic paintings as a song or symphony of emotion.ii House I embodies this vision by displaying a domestic space imbued with psychological depth, inviting the viewer to analyze the external and internal nature of domestic spaces. Fluidity of brushstroke, geometric pattern and brightly colored hues have become signature elements of Snyder’s work and House I beautifully incorporates all of these elements.