Curated by: Lynn Ruscheinsky, PhD

September 6 - 22, 2007
Artist’s reception:
Thursday, September 6th, 6 to 8 pm

Diane Farris Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings by Shannon Belkin.

In Second Nature, Belkin continues her exploration of the complex and intricate relationship between humans and nature by focusing on the rupture between the real and the virtual in our encounter with animals.

Traditionally, animals offer people a companionship that is different from any offered by human exchange – different because it is a relationship between two species. However, our encounters with real animals have become less frequent, often even replaced by encounters with copies of animals.

The idea that a copy eventually becomes the reality has been a central one in twentieth century philosophy of art and aesthetics. In 1975, Italian author Umberto Eco expressed his belief that at Disney’s parks, “we not only enjoy a perfect imitation, we also enjoy the conviction that imitation has reached its apex and afterwards reality will always be inferior to it." Our children first learn about animals through books, cartoons and toys – each of these forms representing an encounter with an imitation, something once removed from reality. Our visually saturated, urban environment marginalizes our contact with nature and especially our children’s understanding of animals. Hence, Second Nature.

Belkin’s new subject matter includes horses, dogs and other animals, which she paints in varying degrees of realism. She juxtaposes animals painted from real life with animals painted from copies of life, such as photographs or toys. Purposely mingling the two, Belkin points to our increasing alienation from the natural world and its creatures, with which we were once deeply and interdependently connected.

Shannon Belkin graduated in 1992 from Emily Carr College (now Institute) of Art and Design, and began exhibiting with Diane Farris Gallery in 1998.