Art on Market Street Poster Series
Utopian Market Street
Artist Tracey Snelling’s Art on Market Street Poster Series, Best Sellers, is a response to the immense changes occurring in San Francisco’s physical and cultural landscape. The posters, which appear along Market Street between the Embarcadero and 8th street from October 28, 2016 to February 13, 2017 offer idealistic visions of Market Street that combine cherished aspects from the past with the new and innovative ideas that are reshaping the City’s identity.
“Tracey Snelling has captivated audiences around the globe with her intricate and mysterious miniature facsimiles of urban buildings and spaces. We are thrilled to have an artist, who has so deeply investigated the physical and sociological attributes of cityscapes present her vision of Market Street,” said Director of Cultural Affairs Tom DeCaigny.
Snelling used vintage pulp fiction novels as the conceptual jumping off point for her poster designs. The posters are titled HEROIC, DARING, EXTRAORDINARY, MYSTERIOUS, RADICAL, and TRANSCENDENT, qualities the artist believes encapsulates San Francisco and its residents. To create each poster, the artist layered two-dimensional images with images of her highly realistic three-dimensional sculptures, for which she has garnered international acclaim. Photographs of sunsets, cityscapes, night skies or large expanses of brushed color comprise the backdrop for her dynamic and striking collages. The end result is a poster series that combines the real and the surreal with a heavy dose of nostalgia.
According to Snelling, “The posters are a celebration of San Francisco and Market Street, calling back on the history, and looking forward to a proposed, idealized, and hopeful future.”