Barry X Ball Connects the Secular and Sacred in “The Shape of Time”

May 21, 2026 / Sophie Clearwater /

Ball’s “The Shapes of Time” mixes imagery from religious traditions and art history, exemplified by the pairing of his sculptures of Saint Pope John Paul II and art collector Giuseppe Panza. Photo: Francesco Allegretto

Long before the age of museum commissions and mega-galleries, the Catholic Church was at the epicenter of the European art world. Renaissance-era patrons, eager to curry favor with a powerful papacy and to flaunt their wealth, poured their money into lavish paintings and sculptures given as gifts to the Church, and artists made their livings depicting biblical scenes and figures. A version of this system can be seen today in Venice, in Italy’s San Giorgio Maggiore, a divine basilica designed by architect Andrea Palladio and built between 1566 and 1610. During the 61st Venice Biennale, San Giorgio Maggiore is opening its doors to audiences to see two collections of artworks: newly restored paintings by Renaissance master Tintoretto and “The Shape of Time,” a career-spanning exhibition by American sculptor Barry X Ball inspired by the role of religion in art and classical art history as viewed in a contemporary context.

After a brief vaporetto ride across the Venetian lagoon, one arrives on the front steps of the storied basilica, which, in addition to housing a functioning Benedictine monastery that predates Palladio’s building, invites artists to showcase their work in the grand abbey; past collaborators include Luc Tuymans, Ai Weiwei and Michelangelo-pistoletto/” title=”Michelangelo Pistoletto” class=”company-link”>Michelangelo Pistoletto. Curated by Bob Nickas, “The Shape of Time” matches the basilica’s grandeur with Ball’s classically inspired designs, high-tech studio techniques and impossibly luxe materials, including onyx, rare marble and chrome and gold plating that shine in a manner matching the ancient splendor of this Renaissance-era church. The exhibition’s first piece is Enthroned Pope, Reflected (2013-24), a remarkable yet somewhat impenetrable plinth of Mexican onyx and gold-plated scaffolding reflected on a mirrored base. Although lacking some of the deeper meaning in the exhibition’s other 22 works, it sets the tone for a collection of contemporary works that would most certainly please the patrons and popes of the Renaissance.

A sculpture of a seated Buddha in orange and brown marbled stone, displayed on a white pedestal in a historic chapel with a classical religious painting and statues in the background. — Ball’s *Buddha* is framed by one of San Giorgio Maggiore’s Renaissance masterpieces by Palma il Giovane. Photo: Francesco Allegretto

In a side hall connecting the basilica and the sacristy, Ball displays ten works from his Medardo Rosso project (2012-), a series that highlights the artist’s technical excellence and ability to reinterpret art history. Starting from three-dimensional scans of works by Italian sculptor Medardo Rosso (1858-1928), he abstracted the originals, relying on shadows and the innate qualities of the stone to create the image. Take Ball’s sculpture Sick Child (2013-22): based on Rosso’s bronze-cast Enfant malade (1893-95), the bust features a child with a downturned gaze and a small “halo” of thin bronze created at the cast’s vertical seam—a signature flourish in Rosso’s oeuvre that is also present in many of Ball’s portrait busts. Ball’s Sick Child sculptures highlight the unfinished, ambiguous nature of Enfant malade by embracing the characteristic texture of “wounded” Mexican onyx, shaping the child’s features with the natural blemishes on the stone’s surface. In Baby at the Breast (2013-19), the defining features of Rosso’s Enfant au sein (1889-90) are only made legible by the shadows cast on the surface of craggy Golden Honeycomb calcite.

A close-up view of a translucent orange sculpture of a human head and upper torso, showing smooth, glossy surfaces and subtle facial features, displayed on a white pedestal against a neutral gray background. — Rendered in a stunning Honeycomb calcite, *Sick Child* (2013-25) is a reinterpretation of sculptor Medardo Rosso’s Enfant *malade* (1893-95). Courtesy Barry X Ball Studio

San Giorgio Maggiore’s sacristy holds three works showcasing one of Ball’s key motifs: the Buddha. Three Buddha figures—Buddha (2018-25) and the duo Mirrored Buddha Herms (2018-23)—are oriented toward the center of the room and gaze at each other. Buddha is framed by Palma il Giovane’s Presentation of Jesus Christ at the Temple, an oil on canvas from the late 1500s. In what Ball tells Observer is one of the only instances of a Catholic Church allowing Buddhist imagery on its premises, this combination of religious imagery reflects a “cross-cultural ecumenicism running through the show… we’ve got Christianity, Judaism, Islam, the Abrahamic religions, and that extends into Buddhism.” Another work that explores this connection between different religious beliefs is Ball’s Pietà (2011-22), shown in the right transept of the basilica. Based on Michelangelo’s Rondanini Pietà (1555), Ball’s version is both a tribute to the Italian master and a reflection on the grief-stricken ambiguity of the original work, which was thought to have been completed in the final days of the artist’s life. This Pietà is rough and sorrowful, feelings enhanced by Ball’s use of alternating smooth surface textures and Mary’s pained stance. During an exclusive walkthrough, Ball said that, in addition to replacing Jesus’s face with that of an elderly Michelangelo, one of his major interventions in the original work was a newly designed and constructed base that includes images of “pagan” folklore. Ball also told Observer that he is proud that many of these works are carved from Iranian onyx, a tribute to the Iranian craftsmen who have sourced the artist’s raw materials throughout his career and are now plunged into feverish conflict.

The other figure elevated to Michelangelo’s status in “The Shape of Time” is that of Pope Saint John Paul II, whose visage is the focus of a sculptural work presented in the wood-paneled Choir behind the basilica’s high altar. Arguably the centerpiece of the exhibition, Pope Saint John Paul II (2012-24) is a larger-than-life bust of the late pope. Swirling tendrils in gold, silver, aluminum and steel shape his face and mitre. Although impressive in its scope and sheer craft, the precious metals of Pope Saint John Paul II are out of place amidst the other onyx and marble sculptures—not only in medium, but also in the way Ball teases figures out of stone with natural qualities intact. Ball’s careful balance between the artist’s hand and the beauty of nature is lost, overtaken by studio showmanship.

Surrounding Pope Saint John Paul II is a tribute to a man who feels more in line with Ball’s decades-long practice. Pseudogroup of Giuseppe Panza (1998-2001) is a series of nine photorealistic sculptures of the head of the titular Panza, a renowned Italian art patron who, before his death in 2010, amassed an impressive collection of Ball’s sculptures. Each in a slightly different size and carved from pristine, glittering Macedonian marble, the nine heads are arranged in a half-circle facing Pope Saint John Paul II. Arguably one of the last Italian collectors who could match the rigor of his Renaissance counterparts, it is fitting that Panza is also portrayed in “The Shape of Time” as a patron saint, a connection between the past and present, and perhaps more importantly, the secular and sacred.

Barry X Ball’s “The Shape of Time” is on view at the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore during the Venice Biennale.