From Meer:
Each of Jack Balas’s paintings includes one or more numbers, which reference a simple inventory system started in 2002. Every artwork is sequentially numbered as they are executed. However, some pieces bear several numbers—as many as six or seven in a few cases. This is because numbers are added if the artist goes back to rework down the road. In this case, he will add a new current number as appropriate. He writes: “I like how the numbers look graphically, and I also want to infer that the paintings are a record of days, my days, my time, sometimes overlapping, sometimes building on top of each other. With the work I have laid out a map in front of you, but I can’t assume to know where you will decide to go, or even which route you will take.”
View the exhibition “Jack Balas | Some Days I Just Want to Paint,” at CLAMP.
Browse all of Jack Balas’ work at CLAMP.