In the vast repertoire of Celtic graphic shapes, spirals and curvilinear motifs occupy a prominent place: jewelry, lapel mirrors, sword sheaths, shields and other ancient engraved stones and illuminated books of the Middle Ages testify of the omnipresence of the spiral in the history of Celtic art. Among these spiral forms, the triskel -symbol consisting of three spiral branches revolving around a fixed point- appears as a specificity of Celtic graphics, and thus was designated as an identity symbol of the Celts.
Since 2008, inspired by these traditional Celtic spiral forms, as well as motifs found in Nature, David Balade has been exploring the graphic possibilities of the spiral and triskel on small and medium sizes with gold leaf, ink, gouache and watercolor on paper. For very large sized paintings he also use acrylic on canvas.
