March 6-28, 2015

Residual Forms

I explore my relationship with time by creating ambiguous images. Using mixed media and collage painting, my work unfolds parts of a story in a fragmented way. I use collage as a process of collection and isolation in order to reframe personal imagery using enigmatic plots. These motifs are in action when materials gather on the picture plane. The ambiguous spaces that develop serve as a container for the images I collect. Fragments become isolated from their original context, displacing the routine of domestic spaces into the peculiar. Curious figures, machine like inventions, cutout forms, and abstracted objects become visual islands, the edges of which serve as barriers.

Oil paint, spray paint, acrylic paint, ink, plastic, and paper are my methods of creating edges. Using a process of erasure, re-creation, and dissection, I force the elements to cohabit the same loosely defined space and create a logic of their own. Each layer struggles to clarify or obliterate the previous. I look for moments that balance the absurdity and spontaneity of collage with the fluidity and mark making capabilities of paint. Only odd moments prevent the entire scene from slipping into abstraction or an irresolvable dream.

Misappropriating and transforming memory to create a fictitious embodiment is what propels the work. This metamorphosis occurs when one image shifts into another, or when forms dissolve into the formless, often eliciting strong feelings of curiosity. Sorting through the tension and narrative leaves the viewer searching for an undisclosed secret as the means to access the dense and intimate moments depicted. The inexplicable leftovers meld into an assortment of jettisoned memory, misinformation, and imagination gone awry.

Casey Snyder is a mixed media painter who lives and works in the D.C Metro area. Snyder is an Adjunct professor at Montgomery College and Frederick Community College.  Snyder is originally from Michigan and received her BFA in Painting from Ashland University in Ashland Ohio, later she received her MFA in Painting from Kendall College of Art & Design in Grand Rapids Michigan.