FONDAGE 
Fondness, Bondage, Foliage, and Found Laying Around

 

 

Fondage is a collaboration between painter Claire Burke-Dain and photographer Amy Shelton.
The collaboration is a moment of re

ection between both artist's investigations in the complexities of

interpersonal relationships and their comparison to relationships in nature.

“A relationship is like a garden. To create a condition that will cause your plants to thrive and produce abundantly, you must weed,
water, fertilize, and care for the plants in your garden. You must also know about the special needs of the plants you're caring for.
Some need more or less light than others, some need more or less water than others, and some need special fertilizers.” ―Chris Prentiss

Shelton’s body of work investigates symbiotic relationships found in nature. The photographs
highlight irony seen both in strange occurrences of foliage but also in observed human nature.
When viewed from a voyeuristic perspective, the complexities of relationships can multiply- the

lines between cute and cringe often are not as simple as they may appear.
Burke-Dain approaches painting by attempting to make shapes that balance each other and
t
together. She starts with red and brown because they are inherently human colors and uses them
interchangeably. The colors are there to establish patterns and links between shapes. There are
gurative elements to most of her recent work as a way to portray human emotion. Some of the links
are hostile or perverse because they are

gures trapped and intertwined. At the end of the day she
creates attractive patterned portraits that contain sad little people who are forced to act as a group.