Barry X Ball was born in 1955 in Pasadena, CA and lives and works in New York.
He has reinvigorated the age-old tradition of figurative sculpture through the use of unconventional materials and methods. Ball employs a complex array of equipment and procedures to realize his sculptures, ranging from the cutting edge to the traditional, from 3D digital scanning, virtual modeling, 3D printing, and computer-controlled milling to hyper-detailed hand carving and polishing. Although paying reverent homage to their historical antecedents, they are completely new. With their simultaneous fever-pitch intensity and surreal stillness, Barry X Ball’s bravura works make an expansive case for the reconsideration of contemporary sculptural practice.
Ball’s art has been exhibited at Nasher Sculpture Center, Ca' Pesaro in conjunction with la Biennale di Venezia, Villa Panza, Powerhouse Museum / Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Casa Vasari, Museum of Arts and Design, Bass Museum of Art, Ca' Rezzonico in conjunction with la Biennale di Venezia, PS 1 Contemporary Art Center, SITE Santa Fe, Ballroom Marfa, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Le Printemps de Septembre, Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Kunsthalle Krems, Museo Cantonale d'Arte, me Collectors Room Berlin, Modemuseum Hasselt, Beijing Today Art Museum, Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Le Quartier, Centre d'art contemporain de Quimper, Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon, and at many international contemporary galleries and art fairs.
His work is in the collections of the Hammer Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Norton Museum of Art, The Maramotti Collection, Le Fonds régional d'art contemporain Bretagne, Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Museo Cantonale d'Arte, Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, The Berlingieri Collection, The Olbricht Collection, and The Panza Collection.
