Behaviourial Enrichment

Shannon Partridge is showing paintings from her University of Waterloo, M.F.A. Thesis exhibition, Behavioural Enrichment.

Gallery hours 11am – 5pm Wednesdays to Sundays.
Opening reception on Thursday, 22nd, 7-10pm.

Behavioural Enrichment is an exhibition of paintings of fictional zoo exhibits.  Created from a collision of imagery between Western zoos and mid-century modern interior design photographs, these curious new worlds comment on the artificiality that is in both zoos and the ideal home.  The work, containing layers of research and paint, provides a space for the imagination to contemplate many possible metaphors.

The paintings draw comparisons between the stage-like sets of interior design photographs and zoo exhibits.  The contained painted environments are complete with props of still-lifes, behavioural enrichment devices from zoos, and animal actors.  These strange worlds of artifice are constructed with images in images: odd compositions and disintegrating spaces that balance between an illusion of depth and an abstract flatness. Each painting presents a fictional exhibit; the exhibition as a whole creates a silent zoo.

Contact: Shannon Partridge
Tel: 226-338-9625
Email: shannon@shannonpartridge.com