Chew Me Up / Spit You Out

Solo Exhibition by Melissa Sclafani
October 16 - November 1st (2015)
Opening Reception: Friday, October 16th, 7-10 pm

Wayfarers is proud to present Chew Me Up / Spit You Out, a solo exhibition by Melissa Sclafani exploring desire, sex, and success in contemporary culture. The show features an installation which Sclafani began as a ritual performance in 2008 in order to purge toxicity from her life. Unable to fully cleanse herself, and haunted by this failure, in 2015 she asked 65 people to complete the ritual with her. To find the beauty in failure, glorify the grotesque and move on in solidarity.

Also featured is “Every girl wants a ring (pop.),” an interactive installation using iconic ring pop imagery, cast resin, bronze, LEDs and sound. Employing a lightness in spirit to discuss more serious topics surrounding female success, the series incorporates a ten-tiered chandelier and sound elements from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk, “We Should All Be Feminists”.  

Melissa grew up on Long Island (pronounced Lawn-Guyland), New York in an Italian-American family where each Sunday dinner was at 3 pm with just her immediate family - 30 some-odd-people. Her large, loud family has triggered her desire to work with communities and her dancing background made her very aware of the human body and its limits. She received her BFA in sculpture from SUNY New Paltz in 2009 and uses her background in traditional sculpture techniques and new media to generate a relationship between labor intensive process and interactive technology.
 
She has participated in residencies and exhibitions across the country including Wayfarers in Brooklyn, NY; Franconia Sculpture Park in Franconia, MN; Salem Art Works in Salem, NY; The Contemporary Artist Center in Troy, NY; Elsewhere Studios in Paonia, CO and High Desert Test Sites in Green River, UT.
 
She is the grant writer and fundraiser for ArtShape Mammoth, a national collective whose mission is to enhance contemporary arts dialog by supporting the development of artists and connecting them with new communities. She currently resides in a small town outside of Boulder, CO where she is an MFA candidate in Sculpture and Post Studio Practices at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
 
Melissa can be found teaching herself new computer programs, tap dancing in her studio and running around the Rocky Mountains with her pup, Rufus Baby Girl.