The Birds, stones, ships and the sea (Baldin Says) are metaphors gently escorting the viewer towards the thread of a tale that may perhaps prove less magical and mysterious than these allegories. Everything here is part of a snare securely laid to perform a task in the seductive journey from the intriguing surface of the painting to where the less intriguing secrets lie.
These metaphors appear to be elements of a complex reality, but they do not elevate the new reality to the level of metaphor or symbol as we would expect. Rather they penetrate in to another internal reality that is more peculiar than the reality of the surface. Its oddity lies this instance in the scope of its inhumanity and the volume of pain which emanates from it, the violations and atrocities that accompany it and which determine the fate of migrating people. (These paintings, Baldin Says, are concerned with the phenomenon of the wave of migration worldwide).
The realism of the surface here is a delightful entry (into a world filled with contradictions, conflicts and wars, adds Baldin).
We are, therefore, faced with dual realities: the first being the reality of visual pleasure, which is tangible and, in our midst, while the other is the virtual reality deeply lurking into the distant flaps of the painting. The first is the inevitable drawing exercise, and the other is the act of drawing itself which is inevitable as well. Both are real, and both are linked to each other by virtue of the painter's choice and mastery of his craftsmanship. (This equation seems right inside the painting and less so outside it.)
Baldin preserves for the painting an exercise that has maintained its honor and stature over the time, and has resisted attempts to strip art from it, those attempts that took various forms in the way to transform the work of art into a spiritless statement, alienated from passion and beauty. His paintings return back the sublimity of beauty, and the touch of the magician who opens the gates of the soul to experience the truth and stare at reality (the shocking truth here and the unpleasant reality). The reality that could be (descent or falling), this inscrutable word the artist has used as (landing) for a title to a collection of his paintings.
His preoccupation with public interest makes the truth and the delivery of the idea a fundamental concern in his artistic work. However, he knows with great sensitivity the seriousness of approaching a formal wording or illustration. He elevates the “immigration”, for example, to a higher level, far beyond the ocular, tangible or even geographical boundaries. some of his works touches the frontiers of the monument status that have neither time nor a place. Although the plot begins outside the painting, this does not deprive his painting of a reflection of deep personal conflicts and internal intensity.
Despite the intensity of the narrative from which the painting emerges and pursues, the painting remains distinctly visual, and that is, obviously the secret of its success. the diversification of the narrative in a painting, for Baldin, is the calculated position changes of the masses, and the exchange of the effects of the forms, lights and colors. that is the practice he masters.
His long experience in painting enables him to restrict the freedom of literature, in general, and oral culture, that distinguishes his cultural affiliations, and which marked his childhood and his teenage, from infiltrating his painting and shapes its visual distinction. however, the continuance of this superiority of the form depends on its align with the visual. still we can note that the artist, sometimes, scales down the level of the flood barrier of meanings, he then produces installation pieces which can justify the ascendency of the meaning.
The paintings of Baldin look innocent, accessible, but with much confidence, I can decide that I am in front of mined art work that requires practice and awareness while navigating its slippery paths.
The flowered and enchanted butterflies valley hides under its colors, masses and vivid lights of life, stories, events and perhaps snakes which are necessary to wake up our negligence to the tragedies that surround our lives.
