About the Absence is Present series, Baldino writes, "As a result of open-heart surgery last year, I currently have a blind spot near the center of my vision. I had a 'mini-stroke' during surgery, and a small air bubble landed in my visual cortex, of all places. Normally I do not create work that is explicitly related to my personal life, but this new series is about perception more than anything else."

In Dead Nature in the Dark, Baldino surreptitiously films André Derain's painting Nature Morte sur fond noir in the Musée d'Art Moderne in Troyes, France.