On a small island in the Philippines, Philippine-American artist Gil Batle continues to process the twenty years he spent in and out of California prisons with striking and sobering new paintings on porcelain at Ricco/Maresca Gallery. Convicted of fraud and forgery, Batle sold tattoo designs, portraits and greeting cards to his fellow inmates and after his release, turned his art practice to stunningly detailed low-relief sculptures of prison life rendered on ostrich eggs. Inspired by Japanese Blue Willow style porcelain, he paints scenes inspired by his current surroundings and his complicated relationship with independence. Here, a flying fish alludes to freedom yet is surrounded by a pattern of prisoner hashmarks and carries a cage, empty, but still present. (On view in Chelsea through Aug 21st).
