Road signs, we hardly see them 'til we need them. We take for granted their placement and design, and barely notice when they change. But they do, all the time. Designs and routes change. Signs are retired and sent to signage graveyards where they languish or await recycling but some get lucky, and go home with Rhode Island artist, Boris Bally, who appreciates their design so much that he gives them new lives as sculpture and furniture.

Bally has been awarded several fellowships and was recently nominated for a Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant. Examples of his high color works reside in the collections of the Cooper Hewitt, the Museum of Art and Design and the Brooklyn Museum, to name a few.

Bally began using road signs in 1991 when searching for materials to use in a commission. They were cheap and abundant and something about messing with signs appealed to his inner "bad boy." Bashing them with a heavy mallet just felt right. Though he no longer bashes, he derives satisfaction from producing great design with his culture's cast–offs. Using signs that are sometimes graffiti tagged and usually damaged by time, Bally's furniture and wall pieces tell something about the world around us and ask us to see, anew, essential objects that are ubiquitous yet virtually overlooked.

Bally is design driven and it is tempting to discuss only his large, colorful signage art but Bally would be short–changed if his very fine metalsmithing was not mentioned, too. He has a degree in metalsmithing and apprenticed in the craft in Switzerland. He is an accomplished craftsman, he still creates holloware, flatware and jewelry in precious metals, but his world is Design. No surprise, really. His father is a well known industrial designer. Perhaps it couldn't be helped.

Bally is especially proud of his new Broadway Chair. More than a year on the drawing board, his new chair features arm rests and a low, broad profile. The lines are graceful and the proportions are pleasing. Of course there is no padding, just the intense graphics and the bold coloration of a corner in Times Square. Because of this chair and his other designs, Bally estimates that since 1991, he has "up–cycled" more than 70 tons of signage. That means he intercepted the signs from their energy–consuming, melt down fate and with modification, turned them into works of art. Today's news is replete with discussions of recycling but it is something Bally figured out a long time ago.

Bally's exhibition, deSign, is the final exhibition of Patina's 10th Anniversary year, and runs from December 4 through January 5, 2010. Bally brings fifty works to this exhibition, including tables, chairs, a new chaise (he hopes), wall platters and jewelry. Bally will present a gallery talk from 4:00 to 5:00 on Friday, December 4. The opening will follow and end at 7:00.