Cat Balco's colorful mandala-like paintings suggest centripetal motion and radiate energy. They’re thrilling to look at as beautiful abstractions, and at closer viewing her expressive paint strokes appear to have depth due to her subtle use of shadow—a skill she developed from her time as a tromp l’oeil painter—and they start to feel like depictions of objects or environments that can’t quite be placed. Her paintings call to mind a disparate array of associations that seem somehow to be connected such as stars, suns, industrial machinery, instruments of torture, carnival wheels, female genitalia, and religious iconography.

You can view Cat's paintings in person in Get Loose, an exhibition at Rick Wester Fine Art in New York City featuring Cat Balco, Ben Godward, and Jason Rohlf through August 3rd.

Follow Cat on Instagram: @catbalco

And visit her website: catbalco.com