Forms in Space

With her new series “Forms in Space” Ruth Snyder has created materially rich multi-dimensional works. Her large acrylic paintings balance figurative steel elements and collaged canvases.

Stainless steel female nudes appear buoyant in spite of their weighted form; they maintain an energetic presence as they float in frenetic pause. Steel rods support these figures in projected suspension amidst layers of canvases in varicolored arrangement. Here, they hover in frozen potentiality. The rods are moveable and can be rotated; this activates the relationship between figure and ground to actualize the work’s dynamic potential.

Ruth considers every facet of every material element. Multiple canvases have been assembled to create a sculptural effect. The façade presents a subdued interplay between steel elements, textural brushwork and chromatic relationships. Sides of the canvases infuse the assemblage with vibrant color to ground the frontal optical atmospherics and instill a cascade of playful colors marking structural depth.    – by Kelley Major