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.

Mirabella, a long time writer, visual artist and filmmaker, is currently completing her thesis years in the graduate department at The Tisch School of the Arts, where she is a Dean's Fellow. Mirabella has made various short films, and has screened at: The Catskills Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, Picture Farm Film Festival', Festival International Signes De Nuit, Palm Beach International Film Festival, The New Orleans Film Festival, The Montana Film Festival, and the First Run Film Festival. She was singularly nominated out of her class by the TISCH Graduate faculty for a Princess Grace Award, and recently won the Wasserman Fox Writing Award for Best Screenplay. She was recently accepted as a 2017 Marcie Bloom Fellow. Mirabella is currently in development on a television show, feature film, and new shorts.

Founder + Creative Director of Public Records and whitebox Collective

Brooklyn based photographer, world traveler

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