Balliano’s geometric motifs stem from a sustained interest in the arch, a form he understands as a universal, distinctly human geometry. As an architectural structure determined by human scale, the arch operates as a bridge between the figurative and the abstract. While arches may recall the Roman ruins around his native Turin, Balliano’s interest lies less in their historical specificity than in what ruins symbolize: the passage of time and the inevitability of transformation.

Despite the seemingly mechanical precision of his paintings, Balliano’s process is intensely manual and gradual. The artist begins each work by hand-sketching geometric patterns onto the canvas, then underpaints these forms in dark acrylic before meticulously rendering each curve in thin layers of white plaster. He then sands, buffs, and scores the surface to unveil the stratified layers beneath before applying diluted washes of paint to sections of the background, whose gravity-driven drips ultimately determine the work’s orientation. This extended approach results in entrancingly organic, painterly surfaces, with the artist’s hand evident in the scratches and scores incised into the picture plane.