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Something that I am going to be doing in the coming months is doing regular features of some of my favorite visual artists. Chris Ballantyne did a wonderful installation recently at the Parklife store in SF. His use of colour, space and subject have a way of extracting objects and scenes from daily life in way that challenges the viewer to think about one's environment in a different context. I love his paintings because they remind me of the intricate ideas that go into planning our urban spaces as well as the dense fragility of the earth beneath our feet. In this interview we talk about his influences and process, and we get the unique opportunity of walking through the installation with the artist narrating for his own presentation.

"Our ideas of nature and landscape are written into city zoning codes with specific ratios of grass and trees, to pavement and concrete, fulfilling our need for a utopic balance of nature and culture. Backyard boundaries incite border disputes, bringing up arguments about trespassing and ownership that seemingly take as much importance as foreign conflicts. Empty pools, white houses, fences, windows and highway overpasses are among the subjects I often employ to explore complex relationships between people and our surroundings." ~ Chris Ballantyne

Chris Ballantyne

The Parklife Store