Presenting her second solo exhibition at Gallery2, in Phoenix Rising Toni-Ann Balleden engages in a process of cutting and destroying unresolved works and then reconstructing them into new works of art.

In her art Ballenden uses obsessive cutting to cope with the challenges that life brings. It's a compulsion that began as a child when she would often cut up and destroy her own work. Recently the artist challenged herself to reassign her deconstructive energy into a positive and creative process. In Phoneix Rising she now cuts up 'failed' works and reconstructs them into new, detailed abstract pieces.