The Frist Center for the Visual Arts presents the work of California-based artist Tracey Snelling in a new exhibition Woman on the Run on view Sept. 9, 2011–Feb. 5, 2012. Snelling’s sculptures of highly detailed vernacular buildings, streets and rundown neighborhoods show a keen sensitivity to the psychological tensions and hidden narratives of modern life in small-town America.
Tracey Snelling. Woman on the Run, 2008–2011. Mixed media, Collection of the artist. Photo by Etienne Frossard.
Woman on the Run—a large tableau of architecture, sculpture, film, video, neon signs, audio and materials drawn from everyday life—provides a film-noir-like setting for a crime story in which a mysterious woman in Arizona is sought for questioning in the murder of her husband.
Throughout the installation, views seen through windows and overheard conversations offer clues as to whether the woman is victim or femme fatale, enabling the viewer to become both a witness and an actor in the story.
By placing the viewer in the position of voyeur, Tracey Snelling calls attention to the ways in which film noir and other elements of popular culture have shaped our shared consciousness.
The exhibition, which is being organized in collaboration with the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Winston-Salem, NC, is accompanied by a gallery guide that will include essays by Frist Center Associate Curator Trinita Kennedy and SECCA Curator Steven Matijcio.
Tracey Snelling earned a B.F.A. from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT, Mission 17 gallery in San Francisco, the Stephen Cohen Gallery in Los Angeles, the Museum of Art and History in Santa Cruz and the Houston Center for Photography in Houston, TX.
Prior to creating sculpture, Snelling worked primarily in photography. The sculptures composing her current work often begin as photographs she has taken or found. She captures her sculptures in realistic settings, creating surreal scenes that reveal complex relationships within the environment she has created.
The Frist Center
Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, located at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tenn., is an art exhibition center dedicated to presenting the finest visual art from local, regional, U.S. and international sources in a program of changing exhibitions. The Frist Center’s Martin ArtQuest Gallery features interactive stations relating to Frist Center exhibitions. Gallery admission to the Frist Center is free for visitors 18 and younger and to Frist Center members. Frist Center admission is $10.00 for adults and $7.00 for seniors, military and college students with ID. College students are admitted free Thursday and Friday evenings (with the exception of Frist Fridays), 5–9 p.m. Discounts are offered for groups of 10 or more with advance reservation by calling (615) 744-3247.The Frist Center is open seven days a week: Mondays through Wednesdays, and Saturdays, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.–9 p.m. and Sundays, 1–5:30 p.m., with the Frist Center Café opening at noon. Additional information is available by calling (615) 244-3340 or by visiting our website at http://www.fristcenter.org