Gino Ballantyne

Ghost[ed.]

A suite of eight limited-edition stone lithographs by eight artists: published in 2015

Sue Baker Kenton, Gino Ballantyne, Jessie Brennan, Tim Brown, Hen Coleman, Nicole Polansky, Edit Taaso, Caroline Whitehead.

A feature of the lithographic process known as: the ‘ghost’ or residual image left on the stone after editioning was the embryo for this collaboration. It is normal practice to grain the stone allowing it to be used for other prints, for Ghost[ed.] the ghost was only partially grained allowing it to accept ink.

Ghost[ed.] is a suite of eight limited-edition stone lithographs by eight artists launched in June 2015. The idea for Ghost[ed.] was formed by Nicole Polonsky and Sue Baker-Kenton, who was the master printer for Ghost[ed.]

Ghost[ed.] was acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Word & Image department in 2016 and can be seen in the Prints & Drawings Study Room.

Publications

Ghost[ed.] by Arlene Leis

Garageland Vol 21 (Urban Ghosts) Spring 2017 (Transition Editions)

The Life of a Ghost by Sue Baker Kenton & Nicole Polonsky

Printmaking Today Vol 24 No 2 Summer 2015 (Cello Press)

Ghost[ed.} V, 2015

Gino Ballantyne (contributor of key image) and Hen Coleman (contributor of ghost image)

lithograph on BFK Rives White 250 gsm
Paper size: 285 x 380mm approx'
Edition size: 15

To find out more about Ghost[ed.] and the other artists please visit
visit Ghosted

For Ghost[ed.] Gino produced a print derived from drawings he made in New York just a few weeks after the Twin Towers were destroyed. As in the landscape of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa where nature is both benign and traumatic the partly erased ghost image of Hen Coleman was left to signify the chaotic role that nature plays, the towers represent a portrait of the human condition.

Gino was born in Malta and studied at The Glasgow School of Art (BA (Hons) Fine Art, Drawing and Painting (1983 -1987) and the University of the Arts London, Wimbledon College of Art (MFA in Painting 2009)

"Aesthetics is more interesting than history" Frank Auerbach

Gino is not interested in populism where the generic story of art is lumped together thereby atrophying the appreciation of it. His process is reflective: individual expression, elaboration of ideas, intuition and direct experience are his filters, and universal themes and ideas are consistently echoed in his work.

He has just completed two commissions (2015-2016) investigating "Sound" for Ligatus, a research department with projects in historical libraries and archives at Chelsea College of Arts. Gino has further extended his research into "Sound" as a Visiting Artist at Glasgow School of Art with Libraries, Archives and Collections and is currently finalising work for an installation and exhibition there. A collaboration with The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (2017) enables him to take the sound drawings he made at GSofA using them as sound notation to realise an interactive Sound event and begin an Artist Residency to investigate shock fronts and the acoustic mirror effect through an analogue medium.

Gino is also Artist in Residence at St Peter and Paul, Buckingham parish church (2017-2018) where he is making drawings for a large scale oil painting of The Crucifixion.

He has exhibited widely and his work is held in private and public collections both nationally and internationally.

During Ghost[ed.] the artists also produced a variety of works using the Stone Lithography printing method and a selection of Drawings and Paintings which accompanied the Ghost[ed.] tour.

Ghost[ed.} V, 2015