Opening reception: Saturday, September 6th, 6 - 8pm
Main Space:
SHANNON PLUMB
The Corner
Sara Meltzer Gallery is pleased to present The Corner, a new video work by artist Shannon Plumb. The Corner marks Plumb's 3rd solo exhibition at the gallery.
Influenced by early cinematic tropes such as physical humor, comical costumes and simple props and sets, Shannon Plumb's films draw upon contemporary visual representations of domestic life, fashion, sports and advertising. Her characters are created from observations of people who occupy her life; from her grandparents, to her peers, to the people she sees on the subway. Portraying all of these figures herself, the artist collects a menagerie of ticks, gestures and emotions that culminate in an awkward craving for affirmation through bumbling antics and slapstick situations. Despite all their comical facades, Plumb's characters strive to achieve a very human condition of acceptance and recognition.
In The Corner, Plumb turns to the urban landscape, specifically the street corner for inspiration. Incorporating etiquette, codes of style and behavior, the personalities in The Corner are familiar characters whose business, social life and status are determined and reliant upon the city streets. The Corner exposes the automatic suspicions and misconceptions that are commonly made in order to identify faces in a crowd and alter behavior. The potentially volatile "thug", the woman of a questionable reputation or the shady character who paces and mumbles are familiar types that many urbanites are acquainted with. By relying on common false-presumptions and stereotyping, Plumb creates contemporary anthropological portraits that comment on race, gender and the economics of contemporary urban life.
The Corner was commissioned in part by the Fashion in Film Festival 2008, funded by the Arts Council of England, with further contributions from University of the Arts London, Oasis, Arts and Business, Kirin and John Prenn.
Shannon Plumb was born in Schenectady, NY, and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT; Colette, Paris France; City Gallery of Schwarz, Austria and others. Group exhibitions include Human Game, Curated by Francesco Bonami, Maria Luisa Frisa and Stefano Tonchi, Florence, Italy; Torino Triennial, Curated by Francesco Bonami and Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Torino, Italy; i-Dentity, Fashion and Textile Museum, London, UK and Greater New York 2005, PS1, Long Island City, NY, among others. Her films have also been included in national and international film festivals and screenings including 2007 Berlin Film Festival; 2007 Rotterdam Film Festival; Ocularis at 10, Museum of Modern Art, New York; 2006 London Film Festival; Scanners: 2006 New York Video Festival; 59 Festival Internazionale del Film, Locarno Switzerland; 2004 Lyon Film Festival and many more. Plumb's forthcoming project The Park, will debut at Madison Park, New York, NY in Spring 2009.