STATIONERY PAINTINGS

“Batlle’s circulation of emblems and logos of status seem to have the desire to animate themselves. They could become characters on their own: the waiter, the chef, the collector, the conversationalist, the withdrawn poet, the fashion-conscious actor, the well-heeled gallerist, all seem to have been invited into the series as the subject of advancing art today. Impoverished and revealing faces alike—grimacing, mouthing, sighing with pleasure, and spiteful—are put in service of the implied economic service of the restaurant to the well-off client and a resulting critique that is hard to evade: art like an overpriced meal is to be enjoyed with the knowledge of its non-value or necessity.”  Fionn Meade

“Rather than making a thing that is fossilized in its status as trophy or financial instrument, Batlle inserts his work into the worlds that we know: the bon vivant, the chef, the artist, and the historian.  Much of how Batlle does this is performative.” Katherine Chan