Long defined by his monochrome palette, Balliano has for the first time introduced shades of red and ochre into his signature geometric paintings, reflecting his ongoing exploration of the tension between order and organic flux. Prompted by the friction he perceived between his precise geometric systems and the entropic forces that threaten them, Balliano saw a kind of energetic heat generated by this clash, embodied in the deep reds and ochres seen in this exhibition. The rust oxide pigment carries a dual resonance as both natural and man-made, binding human construction and natural decay into a single visual register.

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.