With sculptures and textured paintings made of plaster, gesso, and varnish, Davide Balliano explores the boundaries of perception. “Event Horizon” features new marble works that use the arch and undulating U-shapes that the artist has become known for. These sculptures remove the shape from the seemingly endless waves of patterns in his paintings, isolating the form with single and double arches that explore voids and negative space.
In his new paintings, Balliano returns to geometric abstractions on a larger scale, creating immersive fields out of his monochromatic and black-and-white patterns that he purposefully interrupts with broken circles and arches. In both bodies of work, Balliano brings the viewer’s attention to his materials. He leaves visible glimpses of natural, rough marble and thick drips of paint. In doing so, he pays homage to his Italian heritage and the use of marble in antiquities and architecture while also preserving evidence of his own hand and the effects of gravity acting upon the paint, offering visual cues of unseen natural forces.
