Michael Snow
A Life Survey (1955-2020)
The School | Jack Shainman Gallery, Kinderhook, NY
May 21 – December 16, 2023
Jack Shainman Gallery presents Michael Snow: A Life Survey (1955-2020). In a career that defied categorization in medium or genre, Snow’s work embodied originality over novelty, the cerebral over the conceptual, and evolution over conclusion. It is with this expansive vision that A Life Survey is mounted, offering an intricate and dynamic portrait of hael MicSnow’s life and work.
Born in Toronto in 1928, Michael Snow showed an early affinity for creative experimentation. Throughout his youth, he played piano in local jazz bands and received prizes for his early paintings. This led him to the Ontario College of Art where he studied from 1948 to 1952. When declaring his major from rigidly divided academic departments, he chose Design, comprehending that it was the “common aspect of all disciplines.” Fascinated by pushing the limits on ways of seeing, Snow was influenced most by Modern artists who made work on their own terms, including Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Marcel Duchamp, Willem De Kooning, Arshile Gorky, Yves Klein, and Mark Rothko. In these early years, he described embarking on a “try this, try that” period through which experiences from his professional career, daily life, and jazz improvisations inspired pieces like A to Z, 1956, Drawn Out, 1959, and The Drum Book, 1960.
Jack Shainman Gallery has represented Michael Snow since 2004. Previous solo exhibitions held at the gallery include Michael Snow: A Group Show (2015); Michael Snow: In the Way (2012); Michael Snow (2006); and Michael Snow: Powers of Two (2004). Snow was also included in several group exhibitions at the gallery including Stressed World (2022); Parking on Pavement (2018-2019); Home Room: A Multimedia Group Exhibition (2017); Winter In America (2015-2016); Mise En Scène (2014); Works on View (2009), -poiesis (2006); Imposition (2005); and A Charge to Keep (2004).
The School | Jack Shainman Gallery
25 Broad Street, Kinderhook, NY
