For Sylvia Snowden, Color Is Life
The 83-year-old artist has dubbed her painterly detonations of color, which physically undulate from their surfaces, as “structural abstract expressionism.”
Sylvia Snowden has a curiosity about the human condition that begets active, engrossing paintings. Her canvases hover delicately between figuration and abstraction, evoking abundant movement and energy. Standing before the artworks feels electric — like something in you is being activated, previously suppressed emotions riled to attention.
Sylvia Snowden in 2024 (photo by Nick Singleton, courtesy White Cube)Snowden and I met in November, after her solo exhibition opened at White Cube New York. On the Verge gathers 20 of her paintings across two floors, on view through December 19. Our conversation began with her affinity for color and its potency, a lesson from childhood imparted by her beloved mother, who adored vibrant hues. “Color is life,” Snowden declared. “Without color, what would you have?”
The heart of the exhibition is her M Street series — abstractly rendered portraits of bodies with engorged extremities. While they are not depictions of individual people, they are named after her neighbors from the eponymous street in Washington, DC, where she has lived since 1978 and raised her children. Their purpose, however, illustrates something more universal about the nuances of human emotion.