“I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF IT, THE ACT OF PAINTING USING WATERCOLORS ON PAPER, THE BLEEDING FLOWS, THE REACTION OF THE PAPER, THE LUSH BEAUTY OF THE BRUSHES, THE SPEED OF THE MEDIUM AND ITS UNFORGIVING-NESS I FOUND VERY ALLURING.”
His unusual compositions tend to disobey laws of time and space. Considering that they arise from the murmurs of random recollection, these images follow a hypnagogic logic instead. Dissociative, yet tangible enough to discern the setting. We might get a sense of foreground, but beyond that plain, details are permitted to fill the voids of memory however they wish—banjos hover in midair, monkeys climb invisible obstacles, and paintings dangle on nonexistent walls. From this chaos, a satisfying performance emerges. He explains: “The whole thing is similar to a choreographed dance, or like performing a piece of music from a composition. All the playing around is in the early stage of sketching and composition. I’ll try dozens of different things in that nascent phase. But once it’s choreographed, it’s time for the execution, for the performance, which you only have one shot at. Ink and watercolor on paper is unforgiving, every movement is permanent, there’s no painting over, there is no scraping off, so you must have pure concentration and faith, which takes you into some otherworldly mind spaces. Like making a mandala from sand or something. It’s a very different process than painting in any traditional sense. But it can be exhausting.”
Contrasting Palladino’s bedroom scenes are his distinct botanical portraits, which are acutely textured, yet simultaneously soft and dreamy, all in his characteristic whimsy-psych style. These paintings exalt varieties of the cacti family, their fleshy folds rippling out in hallucinogenic splendor. Palladino and his wife have lived in La Paz for the past five years. Part of the Andes mountain range and the highest capital city in the world, they’ve existed among the incredible abundance of cacti and succulent plants that thrive there. The San Pedro plant—native to the Andes—grows through “cresting,” a response to mutations, infections, or damage that creates a brain-like growth pattern. This plant has become a muse for Palladino. Of this odd and mesmerizing story of growth, he shares, “I began playing at ‘growing,’ or designing, my own versions, and they began to take on an almost spiritual feel, like meeting an old forgotten god, something ancient and wise and mysterious. Then of course the surroundings of this place, the arid mountains, and the sky—which seems very dramatic and close to you— became another frame around the plants.”
Palladino’s creativity doesn’t end there, as many of his ideas make their way into the material realm as tactile wall reliefs, through resin or hand painted 3-D prints. These might include elements similarly found in his paintings—things like funny felines, rainbow ribbons, and candy-like florals.
When asked where his fascinations will possibly land next, he states, “I hope to explore painting with dye on fabric this year. As my partner is an expert in textiles, we will probably do some collaborations. I also hope to revisit 3-D wall reliefs that I’ve done a lot of work on, so keep an eye out for that.”
Whatever the medium, his fervor for all of life’s quirks springs out at us, enthusing cooperative eyes.*
This article originally appeared in Hi-Fructose issue 74. You can still get a copy of it here. Or subscribe today for our latest issue here.
