Smack Mellon is pleased to present Tracey Snelling’s installation Woman on the Run and Michael Paul Britto’s new video works in Society’s Children. The two artists incorporate elements of pop culture, cinema, and reality to very different ends. Snelling uses architectural elements and multimedia effects to create fictional character and scenarios full of intrigue, while Britto uses personal observation and surveillance footage to emphasize the injustices of actual occurrences. In the tradition of a film noir femme fatale, Snelling constructs a three-dimensional narrative around an ambiguous female persona wanted for questioning in relation to a crime. The visitor becomes a player in the story, searching for the enigmatic woman. Boundaries blur between victim and violator, fact and fiction, feminism and outdated views. Britto’s harsh characters are more straightforward and urgent in both presentation and purpose, exposing pressing concerns in contemporary urban African-American culture. His video Verbal Assault shows the same actor portraying a father and son in a heated argument marked by mutual disrespect, while his video Daughters shows footage of a police officer brutally restraining a girl whose only crime is staying out past curfew.

Tracey Snelling, Woman on the Run

“Woman on The Run is an installation that intricately mixes architecture, scale modeling, video, photography and 3-D story telling with a heady dose of Hollywood glamour and Hitchcock-like built-in suspense. A multimedia project, Woman on the Run explores a fragmented narrative about a fated woman. The main character, a combination of heroines and femme fatales from 1950’s and 1960’s film noir is trying to escape her fate. A crime has taken place, and she is wanted for questioning. Throughout the installation, different clues are given about what might have happened and who the woman is. Is she the victim, or the perpetrator? A study in feminism or an example of outdated ideas?

An alternate world of shrunken buildings, neon signs, and a life size motel offer a selection of clues that conspire to initially draw the viewer to the action and then help them thread together the disconnected story that just happened. The viewer quickly becomes a witness and to some extent an actor within the story, often assuming the role of a detective. Video plays in windows and conversations can be overheard. Reality becomes based more in perception than in absolutes. The blacks and whites of life shift to grey, and the truth becomes shrouded in mystery.

I have been interested in the idea of reality being something that continually changes, due to perception and according to an individual’s ideals and own subjectivity. I explore this viewpoint through shifting scale and presenting a particular subject in a myriad of ways. A large building can inspire a small sculpture of that building, which in turns becomes a photograph and eventually gets incorporated into another piece of art. Video is often placed in the sculptures – usually of people, sometimes doing mundane activities, repeated continually. Other times the characters might remain the same but the actions that are repeated change slightly and contradict each other. Influences in my work are heavily anchored in Americana and fed by post-war US popular culture from literature to cinema, while my work consistently and simultaneously celebrates, demystifies and re-interprets those cultural clichés with the view to making them both timeless and fresh.”

Tracey Snelling is an internationally exhibiting artist living and working in Oakland, California. She graduated with a BFA in Art Studio from The University of New Mexico in 1996. She explores reality and scale through sculpture, photography, and video. Her works are featured in numerous collections, including the Baltimore Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, de Saisset Museum, and The West Collection, Pennsylvania. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including Gemeentemuseum Helmond in the Netherlands, Selfridges in London, solo exhibitions in Brussels, Amsterdam, London, and Miami, and at Art Basel. She recently returned from a 4 month art residency and solo exhibition in Beijing.

Smack Mellon
92 Plymouth Street @ Washington
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Gallery hours are Wednesday-Sunday, 12-6pm

Smack Mellon is easily accessible by either the F or the A/C subways.

F Train to York. Exit to the right and walk downhill on Jay Street, towards the water.
Make a left at the next block, Front Street. Make a right on Washington Street.
92 Plymouth is 2 blocks down, on the corner.

AC Train to High Street. Use Fulton Street Exit.
Cross the street (Cadman Plaza West), enter park and follow curved pathway to
Washington Street. Make a slight left to exit park and walk down Washington towards river, 3 blocks to Plymouth Street.

B61 Bus to York and Gold Streets.
Walk down York. Take right on Washington Street and walk to end at park to
Plymouth. 92 Plymouth is at the corner.

On Foot: Enjoy the beautiful walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. The first set of stairs you reach in Brooklyn will drop you off on Washington Street. Take a left out of the stairwell and walk down the hill for three blocks. 92 Plymouth Street is the last building on the right side of the street, right before the park.

By Car:
via Brooklyn Bridge: Take the Brooklyn Bridge across the East River and get off at the first exit on the right, Cadman Plaza. The exit will drop you off on Cadman Plaza - follow this street through the first two lights toward the East River. Take a right on Front Street (just after the off-ramp from the BQE), a left on Main Street, drive two blocks and take a right on Plymouth Street. 92 Plymouth is one block, at the corner of Washington.

via BQE: If heading South on the BQE, exit at the Cadman Plaza exit. At the stoplight, make a hard right on Front Street, almost making a u-turn. Take a left on Main Street. Drive two blocks and take a right on Plymouth Street. 92 Plymouth is one block, at the corner of Washington.

via Manhattan Bridge: Take the Manhattan Bridge to Brooklyn and make a right on Tillary Street. Follow Tillary through three lights (you will pass the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge) and take a right on Cadman Plaza East. A park will be on the left. Follow this street underneath the BQE and through the first light. Take a left on York Street at the stop sign. This street will curve to the right and eventually deadend. Take a right on Front Street and then an immediate left on Main Street, drive two blocks and take a right on Plymouth Street. 92 Plymouth is one block, at the corner of Washington
For more info on me visit my official website
www.rickyday.net