Shanna D'Antonio

The central idea behind this series is a voyeur's perspective into my intertwining relationships. Recurring motifs of birds and bees, or "fertility gods", pattern over images of the people and buildings that make up my day to day surroundings and interactions. The beeswax is a fitting media for this very personal endeavor, as it binds elements together with uncommon strength and durability masquerading as a sweetly ethereal substance. Honeycomb-like textures created with the wax echo the bee motif, a common symbol of sexual love. Soft layers of pink and blue wax combine with the starkness of screen prints, photographs of the lovely old building across the street from the park where I play with my son, and handwritten love letters from past relationships. This mingled imagery evolves to become an emotional and symbolic homage to the various complex threads of love, desire, and contentedness that weave together those things I value most.

Ghostly portraits and scraps of love letters hover over natural and constructed landscapes, imbuing them with a heightened sentimentality.

The "Fertility Gods" series is a set of images symbolic of sexual love, using a birds & bees motif. These mixed media paintings combine straightforward images caught in beeswax and overlaid with a honeycomb texture. The honey-hued wax has an oozing sensuality to it's surface, while ensnaring the "gods" within its layers like a specimen in amber. In this sense, the pieces have a slightly primitive feel as they openly display the images for viewing.

Oil paintings with an eye towards slightly surreal interpretations of habitat and degeneration; a haunting interspersal of human constructs and the natural world.

This work began as contemplation on the definition and idea of home as both a physical place and an emotional reaction. For many years home was the city of New Orleans, a city defined both by its cultural strengths and its crippling vulnerabilities.