Shawn Teseo Ballarin
Shawn Teseo Ballarin
Shawn Teseo Ballarin is an artist living in Lincoln, Nebraska. He received his BFA from the University of Nebraska and attended graduate school at Illinois State University. Currently he has a fellowship with the Lux Center for the Arts. He works in a variety of media including painting, printmaking and video..
Over the last few years he has exhibited paintings and prints across the Midwest, completed a variety of private commissions, and created album art that appeared in both Rolling Stone and Spin magazines. He has painted several murals, including one that spans over 250 feet near Wrigley Field in Chicago. Most recently he was included in the 2021 Nebraska Artist Biennial at the 1516 Gallery in Omaha Nebraska.
I think of my abstract prints and circle paintings as a formal experiment grounded in pleasure and aesthetics. My approach allows for improvisation and surprises, similar to when I am recording music. I enjoy seeing how the different layers interact when combined together. As I make these pieces, the juxtaposed constellations of intended and accidental compositions and patterns are ultimately an exercise in the soothing quality of art: A reflection of the human tendency to find peace, or even beauty, both in the face of struggle, confusion, and pain and in our processes for living through them.
