Tracey Snelling
One of the art world's vital functions is to serve as a microcosm of the world at large. The personal dramas and social politics that play out within it are no different from those in any subculture, and galleries are increasingly acting like little mini-corporations taking their cottage-industries global as they expand their brands across and beyond continents. But more significantly, when artists are moved to make broad, wide and (hopefully) deep statements about ideas and society, they can express their world-view within the space of a gallery.
Few artists do this as effectively as California-based Tracey Snelling, whose strikingly crafted first solo show, 'Dulces', is on view at London's Wedel Fine Art Gallery until 21 April. Snelling's insightful and absorbing multi-media installations combine and juxtapose documentary photographs that she takes of signs, stores and homes in ethnically identifiable neighborhoods with dioramas she makes of those area's signature sights. She then photographs her miniatures and places the images alongside her documentary snapshots.
'Dulces y Novedadas', 2007
At Wedel Fine Arts, Snelling re-creates the tantalizing sampling of sticky, seedy, seductive delights offered on a strip of a Mexican suburb, where sweet shops ("Dulces" meaning "candies") are situated next to strip-clubs and cheap sex-hotels. Included in the show is a life-sized Palenta, a cart where drug dealers hark ice-cream to the kiddies and harder candy to adults.
Snelling, who lives in strongly Latino Oakland, California, spent time in Mexico soaking in the sensibility and sensual substance of Latino cultural identity, which is becoming an increasingly significant and rewardingly influence on America's mainstream culture. Though Snelling depicts intimate and unattractive aspects of cultures other than her own, rendering lives into palm-sized pieces and small-scale scenes, her approach is intimate and humble instead of patronizing. She is on close terms with these cultures but remains an affectionate outsider, offering her viewers an introduction to cultures many would warily avoid or choose to overlook.
Snelling has an upcoming solo show at Tache Levy Gallery in Brussels called "Monsters," opening 21 April concurrently with an outdoor window installation in Brussels and a solo installation in the First Call section of Art Brussels. In June, she will show work with Tache Levy at Volta and contribute to a group exhibition at the Museum of Breda in the Netherlands organixed by Lokaal 01.
'Los Cabos', 2007
21 cm x 76 cm, chromogenic print
ANA FINEL HONIGMAN: Living in England, one of the things I miss most about the States is the influence of Hispanic culture. How do you personally define 'American identity'?
TRACEY SNELLING: I think American identity is so varied. There are so many cultures and different classes. The mixture of people completely changes from town to town, even block by block. I like the idea of the "melting pot" much better than the idea of an American identity being related to apple pie, baseball, and conservatism. That being said, I am still intrigued by the vast amount of people who live in the middle of the country. Much of that looks much more homogenous and segregated than my ideal melting pot.
AFH: But your work seems to be more about the unmelted areas, the pockets of cultures that remain pretty distinct, even within dominant white culture, right?
TS: For the most part it seems that way. I spent my first 7 years of life in Oakland, California, which has a large African American population. When I was 7, my family moved to Manteca, a small rural town about 1 1/2 hours away, but really a world apart. That was mostly white people and Hispanics. What was so bothersome to me, even at that age, was how much racism I noticed and heard living there. I hadn't heard anyone speak so bluntly before. In a way, I experienced a major culture shock there.
AFH: So, would you say that your work comments more on that state of culture shock than it comments on the particular cultures you reference? Are you always an outsider paying homage to another culture or are you also trying to display your intimate understanding of those cultures?
TS: It varies from work to work, subject to subject. I think I pay homage more than anything to a culture or group of people. I like to observe what people do and how they act and react to certain situations. I also really just love to be smack in the middle of a culture different from my own and to experience it.
AFH: What was it like being a teenager in Manteca?
TS: Also, even though it wasn't my preference, I had to spend my childhood and teenage years in Manteca. I would ride my bike 2 miles to the gas station to buy candy; my friends and I would walk 3 miles to get to the movie matinee. As a teenager, I made out and experimented with drugs in the almond orchard across from my house. A night out for my family would be going to The Farmer's Table, where a wagon wheel was the main decoration. I always found these events to be strange, and for some reason I am often attracted to portraying this life in my work.
'Willie's Place,' 2005
31 cm x 51 cm, chromogenic print
AFH: Do you consider your work particularly and distinctively American?
TS: It often reflects different pockets of America, such as small towns, rural areas, inner cities, and highways. After traveling quite a bit in Europe, I realized just how enamored I am with the mundane American architecture. Yet with my mediums I feel like I can address anything I want, either logistically or psychologically. I really look forward to traveling to places like China, Japan, and India and exploring them with my work.
AFH: Do you have specific plans to do travel to any of those countries soon?
TS: I am hoping for a residency in China. Maybe I will visit the others in a year or two. My next vacation will most likely be either New Mexico (where I went to school) or Mexico.
AFH: What do you think of all the attention being recently given to contemporary Chinese art?
TS: It's nice for the artists! I really don't know enough about contemporary Chinese art to comment about it.
'Another Shocking Psychological Thriller,' 2004
AFH: Kids dont seem to play with dollhouses anymore. The Sims are kind of the same thing, but not. Do you see what you do as a lost art?
TS: I buy a lot of supplies at a 10,000 square foot dollhouse/model train store north of Marin in California, so every time I walk in there it seems that dollhouses are still going strong.
AFH: Are you alright with having your work compared to dollhouses since they are miniatures of homes and visually evoke that comparison?
TS: I don't think of my work as dollhouses. I see them as sculptures or structures. I used to get angry when someone would refer to them as dollhouses, but now it doesn't bother me. I really don't care what people call them anymore--I am just happy when someone sees the different layers of the work. For the collector who misses the deeper meanings going on through imagery or video and buys one for their child (I don't think any have yet, but one never knows), I am happy I can at least have some kind of influence over their child!
AFH: I think it would be amazing to have a collector's kid play with a miniature of someone's real home, instead of some sterile fantasy home like most dollhouses. Do you think art, or toys, can actually alter people's assumptions and stereotypes about each other?
TS: Yes, I think everything has the possibility to do that.
AFH: How different are critical and viewer responses to your work when you show in different countries?
TS: I have usually noticed it to be similar, although occasionally in Europe another layer of politics is sometimes read into my work.
AFH: You mean that viewers might be reading statements that are more critical of American culture than you intended or that their local politics lead them to surprising interpretations of your work?
TS: Yes, that sometimes happens. That is fine by me. Although I might have an idea in mind about my work, I leave it open enough so that people can come to it with their own interpretations. Also, even when I have a basic idea in mind, I work very intuitively and loosely, so the idea and work change by the time it is complete. Sometimes I will look at a piece after and be surprised by the meanings I put in it.
AFH: Have viewers ever responded with comments you've found offensive - perhaps statements that seemed obviously stereotypical to you?
TS: I can't think of any specific instances at the moment, but I know it's happened. I really try to not be affected by what the viewer says, good or bad. I try to work with blinders on, to keep my work as close as possible to my ideas. I will listen to people I respect, though, and consider their comments.
'Chinatown', 2006
AFH: Do you have any concerns about making art, in our post-colonialist age, representing a culture other than your own?
TS: Well, it is a concern of mine. For Basel last year, I made a large sculpture called 'Chinatown', It was an amalgamation of different Chinatowns in the US. I wanted to portray what was exciting and fascinating to me, while still including real parts of Chinatown, some nice and some not. So, I thought deeply about it, but still tried to express exactly what I wanted to and maintain integrity as a foreign visitor to the area and idea. With the show at Wedel, it was originally just going to be about a trip I took to Mexico, particularly influenced by a rough neighborhood I walked through. But when I started developing the concept, I realized what an influence the culture has had on me, in so many amazing ways. So, this is a little different because it became more about the culture and my fascination with it than just one particular place. I want to explore it in a realistic way without being offensive, yet still address certain issues, have fun with the work, and continue the themes that I keep revisiting. It does get troublesome though, if people misinterpret what I am doing. I think there is much more opportunity for people to be offended by the abstract idea of the show or what is written about the work, rather than the actual work itself. In the end, my intention is good.
Wedel Fine Art
8-10 Conlon Street
London, W10 5 AR
T: +44 (0)208 964 2277
www.wedelfineart.com
ANA FINEL HONIGMAN is a critic, PhD candidate in art history at Oxford University and Senior London Correspondent for the Saatchi Gallery's online magazine.
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