Janet Balbarona

The painting is in good condition, as is the canvas, which is clear and taut. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals no indication of retouching. The paint layers are intact.
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Continuing on the autobiographical narrative arc of her recent paintings, Janet Balbarona draws on her rawest experience of love and loss to create a visual narrative that is at once uniquely hers and yet ultimately understandable as a fundamental human experience. As with her previous works, the artist creates an uneasy tension in the contrast between the subtle play of colors and dream-like interweaving of images, and then the more sinister allusions evident in the very collage of images, including the artist's sober depiction of herself.

In "Running Empty Handed," Balbarona once again draws from a pool of highly specific iconography to illustrate the hard reality of long-distance relationships. Here, she pits the two parties from vastly different countries against each other - the "foreign" country here represented by China, a nation and people that in the western tradition of Orientalism is often the portrayed as "alien" and "other." With the other person asleep under the covers, and she left alone in her wakefulness, the artist reinforces the sense of distance and loneliness. Additionally, the "distance" between the two also doubles to imply basic irreconcilable differences, which can be as damaging as physical separation.

As with her previous paintings, Balbarona employs very personal symbolism that also resonates in popular culture - an airplane, blood red sheets, cherry blossoms, a cake and a toy ring. As such, she maintains a strong personal narrative which is nevertheless also accessible enough for viewers, encouraging them to further explore her fantastical world and, through the common themes she posits here, discover stories and flesh out experiences that are uniquely their own.