Chef in Brooklyn

Design & Illustration

Chris Ballantyne’s work focuses on vernacular architecture and observation of the American landscape.  Banal features of suburban and industrial zones are sources for paintings that highlight the quirky and absurd.  Ballantyne states that, “Growing up in a military family and moving to different parts of the country, there was a certain familiarity to the kinds of houses and neighborhoods. They were a series of suburban developments built in separate regions of the country, always on the outskirts of larger cities, at the exit ramps of interstate highways, and all very similar in age and design.  My own notions of space developed out of this cultural landscape which was striving for an indidvidual sense of personal space,  consciously economic, and somewhere between urban and rural.” Dysfunctional structures are flawless in their strangeness, made beautiful through symmetry, simplified lines and flat, subdued colors. Ballantyne eliminates detail to emphasize the subtleties of the way we experience space and our attempts at containment. He extends these concepts further by expanding the imagery of his paintings beyond the picture plane and onto the surrounding walls. “Most of my works involve combinations of various places, drawn from memory. As well, my own interests in skateboarding and surfing altered how I saw  the use of these structures ranging from empty pools, sidewalk curbs, to ocean jetties in a way that tied in to my sense of this larger push and pull between culture and nature.” With shrewd restraint, Ballantyne accentuates the antisocial effects of our built environment with a hint of humor and plenty of ambiguity. A curious emptiness permeates the work of Chris Ballantyne. Graphically rendered buildings, pools, parking lots, and fences take on new meanings and amplified significance, isolated on flat fields of color.

Jackie Klempay founded SITUATIONS, a contemporary art gallery in the LES/Chinatown neighborhood of New York City, in 2015. The gallery exhibits the work of both emerging and established artists. The divergent programming holds a primarily queer and feminist agenda featuring artists from the United States and abroad. Jackie is also on the board of poetry imprint The Song Cave.

Helga Traxler, born 1984 in Austria, also known as Photosalonhelga – is a Freelance-Photographer with a Masters Degree in Visual Communications. Helga has worked with clients such as: New York Times T-Magazine, New York Magazine - The Cut, Ryan McGinley Studios, Rauschenberg Foundation, Walter Schupfer Management, Mac Cosmetics, Sweden Unlimited, Bullett Media, Conrad Rosett, Mango, Ebay, Allianz, amm. Through the experimentation with the medium she is blurring the boundaries between fashion and art. Helga is known for her cautious, calculated approach and varied photographic style with strong attention paid to details and colour schemes. Her focus is squarely on people. Helga is based in Brooklyn/New York City.