JAMES BALLA
~Things you don't see~
September 2026
~Things you don't see~
September 2026
“The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover.
If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.”
- James Baldwin
If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.”
- James Baldwin
The above is a representation of how the pieces are framed and presented. Printed using oil paint on hand carved linoleum blocks on Arches paper. Custom framed in walnut with a hand rubbed finish and splined corners. 8-ply mat and Museum Optium anti-reflective acrylic glazing.
Each: Image size: 6 7/16 x 4 7/8 inches / frame size: 11 1/2 x 10 inches
Click on the image below to preview the catalogue, which will be available for purchase soon.
Each: Image size: 6 7/16 x 4 7/8 inches / frame size: 11 1/2 x 10 inches
Click on the image below to preview the catalogue, which will be available for purchase soon.
~Things you don't see~
From where did all of these images first originate?
One could say that they came from the self-producing order of the stones that I
had laid down in the garden behind the house years ago, with the moss nurtured in
between, competing with clover and sedum, growing over the edges and spreading
throughout, creating its own new order. In the winter, that green retracts and is covered
with ice until the snow comes and piles up and the stones slowly disappear. The space
in-between becomes everything. This ongoing natural process seems to produces its
own drawing and painting.
One could say that they came from paying attention to those things that do not
demand our attention, that they came from seeing stones through water at the shallow
tide, from foam floating on that same surface producing echoing shadow stones on the
ocean floor, from rain on the window, from cells, from crystals, from lichens on the
breakwater, from Venetian terrazzo, from a Mariano Fortuny painted print, from the
vain attempt to think about the dynamics of the cosmos. But these are all just a few of
the waves that pulse and show up when the work is being made. These waves combined
with an idea I had of making paintings by a different process, which resulted in the
carving of a linoleum block, letting one shape dictate the next, ending up with an all-over
entity that echoes that of the garden stones. It is a process similar to one I used making
my Flowers paintings years ago, or the “stacking stones” drawings that preceded them.
The process is the framework for the resulting image. And the resulting image has its
own life, being the manifestation of all these things leading up to it. The first of these
blocks was created and printed nearly two years ago. I carved many blocks, and they
were used in countless combinations. Using oil paint and pigment rather than ink, either
flat and rolled or awash with mineral spirits, printed over and over, they subvert the
conventional look of a linocut. They are as much painting as print. Perhaps even more
painting than print.
These are things that I made to show you, made from things that I have seen.
These works are printed on Arches paper, custom framed in walnut with a hand rubbed finish and splined corners, 8-ply mat and Museum Optium anti-reflective acrylic glazing.
From where did all of these images first originate?
One could say that they came from the self-producing order of the stones that I
had laid down in the garden behind the house years ago, with the moss nurtured in
between, competing with clover and sedum, growing over the edges and spreading
throughout, creating its own new order. In the winter, that green retracts and is covered
with ice until the snow comes and piles up and the stones slowly disappear. The space
in-between becomes everything. This ongoing natural process seems to produces its
own drawing and painting.
One could say that they came from paying attention to those things that do not
demand our attention, that they came from seeing stones through water at the shallow
tide, from foam floating on that same surface producing echoing shadow stones on the
ocean floor, from rain on the window, from cells, from crystals, from lichens on the
breakwater, from Venetian terrazzo, from a Mariano Fortuny painted print, from the
vain attempt to think about the dynamics of the cosmos. But these are all just a few of
the waves that pulse and show up when the work is being made. These waves combined
with an idea I had of making paintings by a different process, which resulted in the
carving of a linoleum block, letting one shape dictate the next, ending up with an all-over
entity that echoes that of the garden stones. It is a process similar to one I used making
my Flowers paintings years ago, or the “stacking stones” drawings that preceded them.
The process is the framework for the resulting image. And the resulting image has its
own life, being the manifestation of all these things leading up to it. The first of these
blocks was created and printed nearly two years ago. I carved many blocks, and they
were used in countless combinations. Using oil paint and pigment rather than ink, either
flat and rolled or awash with mineral spirits, printed over and over, they subvert the
conventional look of a linocut. They are as much painting as print. Perhaps even more
painting than print.
These are things that I made to show you, made from things that I have seen.
These works are printed on Arches paper, custom framed in walnut with a hand rubbed finish and splined corners, 8-ply mat and Museum Optium anti-reflective acrylic glazing.