THE AMERICAN PREMIERE OF A MAGNIFICENT NEW PRODUCTION!

Bat KENWRIGHT

"ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER'S
BEST SHOW SINCE PHANTOM!"

An installation of Ivin Balien's wall pieces

Half And Half

music by

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER

Lyrics by

Eclectic blend of painting, sculpture
is artistic medium of Cranbrook grad.

Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News

T

he Susanne Hilberry Gallery
has something in common
with a New York gallery.
Both spaces simultaneously will be
showing similar works created by Ivin
Ballen, a painter-sculptor who gives
artistic permanence to found items.
Using fiberglass, he builds and then
paints wall sculptures that sometimes
appear to be as fragile as cardboard
and masking tape.
Ballen, who earned a master of fine
arts degree in painting at Bloomfield
Hills Cranbrook, will have 15 items at
the Ferndale gallery through Jan. 5.
The exhibit is titled "50/50" because
the pieces are half sculpture, half
painting.
"I've been working on this series for
the past year and a half' says Ballen,
26, who had a showing at the Hilberry
space in 2005. "No two pieces are alike.
I have a system for making things, but
I don't have a formula for anything."
One piece, a triptych titled 4 Way,
captures a stereo system with speak-
ers, and it seems almost functional.
Another piece, titled Province, suggests
the elevation of a town square.
Ballen, who has been interested in
art since childhood and earned his
bachelor's degree in sculpture at the
Rhode Island School of Design, had
intense training in casting while work-
ing at a foundry. His experience with
moving through many steps of casting
and making molds motivated him to
find shortcuts.
"I started to find a very direct
way of casting and making molds,
mimicking materials as I took their

-

impressions:' he explains. "Instead of
making a sculpture, I would make the
negative of a sculpture.
"When I cast something on card-
board, for instance plaster on card-
board, I pull the cardboard off, and
I'm looking at the negative of card-
board. The eyes adjust, and it doesn't
register as a negative. It just looks like
cardboard:"
Ballen grew up outside Philadelphia
and now lives in New York. He decided
to attend Cranbrook because of
respected professors; he returns about
every six months to see friends.
"Occasionally, there are Jewish
symbols in my work, but they're
subliminal and wouldn't be recogniz-
able," says Ballen, who converted to
Judaism and had a bar mitzvah after
his mother converted. "I'm a spiritual
man, enthused about religion, but I
don't push it in my art."
The sculptor-painter, who is single
and enjoys biking, works out of a stu-
dio near his home. At times, he takes
on freelance art installation or art
assistant jobs in galleries.
"I tend to keep my art life separate
from my home life to get a little dis-
tance from work," says Ballen, who has
exhibited in Rhode Island and soon
will have a show in Berlin. "I might
draw a little at home, but most of my
work is in my studio." 11

"50/50" will be on display
through Jan. 5 at the Susanne
Hilberry Gallery, 700 Livernois,
in Ferndale. Gallery hours are 10
a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays.
(248) 541-4700 or
w.ww.hilberrygallery.com .

JIM STEINMAN

Fisher Theatre • January 8-27,2008

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November 29 • 2007

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