Kalina has been working with systematic variations within self- imposed criteria of scale, proportion and structural elements. The narrow vertical Parameter paintings have a silhouetted figure; the horizontal formats of the Kromos series complicate and expand those shapes; while the Sector and Counterpart series open themselves to grids, pathways, and keyholes that penetrate the form and cause the figure and ground to freely change places. These chromatically rich compositions reference the plans and elevations of architecture as well as the complexities and pleasures of pattern and decoration, creating in the process a balance of both symmetrical and asymmetrical elements. Working now with oil on linen, a painterly hand is clearly present on the surface.

Roy Dowell has suggested that “Kalina and I both deal with democracy in our paintings but deal with it in different ways. He sees the similarities between components and works at a unification, where I take from disparate sources because I see them as having equal value. Coming at democracy from two different directions.”

His paintings incorporate a vast field of references, from American modernism, collage, Latin American decorative motifs and ethnographic material from Africa and elsewhere. His compositions evoke “things,” such as a shield or sign, brooch or vessel, and often juxtapose a flat field with a suggestion of space or volume. His mark-making is improvisatory and rhythmic, and his shapes are more wobbly than fixed, yet at the same time perfectly poised. Working in acrylic on linen allows subtle layering and transparency in a range of idiosyncratic colors familiar to followers of Dowell’s work.