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 debuted, in a modified version, at If Looks Could Kill, the Fashion in Film Festival in the Spring of 2008 in London.