Gil Batle’s self-taught practice, honed during 25 years in California prisons, now manifests in haunting porcelain plate paintings. His new series "Double Life" merges the lush flora of a Filipino island with symbols of confinement—bird cages, chains, and shivs—creating unsettling yet beautiful compositions.

The fragility of porcelain contrasts with the brutality of the scenes, offering a poignant meditation on freedom and captivity. Batle’s blue acrylic work on these domestic objects transforms them into powerful narratives of survival, now on view at Ricco/Maresca in New York.