Flames of Fire to Heaven, 2009-2010, 170 x 205 cm, Oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas

This painting is part of a body of work taken from overgrown cemeteries, first exhibited in London in 2010. This work is a celebration of the death of Thomas Heminge who was struck by lightening in 1702. The title is taken from the only legible line on a worn headstone I discovered in a small overgrown cemetery. It was considered extremely fortunate to die this way, as if God was calling for you, and this euphoria is reflected in the painting.

The Return to Silence
2010
Hand cut paper and pin pricks
88 x 65 cm & 88 x 118 cm

The Return to Silence is part of a body of work first shown in 2009 in Gagosian Gallery and Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York. Inspired by a journey to Taman Negara, the world’s oldest tropical rainforest in Malaysia, these hand cut paper works recall the subtle shadows cast throughout the day, or the trace of an enigmatic landscape, now frozen in both time and memory. "Meticulous and labor intensive, this work is largely rooted in a process of subtraction – an act defined by transforming and reworking the source material. In this way, his pieces can be viewed as tangible epigraphs of an independent and introspective pursuit – defined by memory and perception. Informed by concept and process, the works suggest a type of rebirth and regeneration: of both source material and content. Emanating with silent energy, Ball effectively references the past, the indefinite expanses of nature, and the documentation of individual memory."