Aleksander Balos
Aleksander Balos is a Polish artist and figurative painter, who lives in the United States and is a naturalised American.
Life and art
Aleksander Balos was born in 1970 in the town of Gliwice, Poland. His parents, Jan and Janina, were artists, who encouraged him to study art in Gliwice Art Center, while he was still in elementary school. He did his first painting lessons with his father’s oil paints. In 1989 he went to the United States to attend St Joseph High School in Kenosha, Wisconsin. There he met with an artist, Mrs Kathy Gagliardi, who encouraged him to attend an art school.
Balos received a full scholarship to Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee WI, where he studied painting and drawing with Philosophy Professor Garry Rosine. After completing his BFA, and having his first museum show at The Charles Allis Art Museum in 1995 Balos relocated to Chicago to study in the atelier program at the School of Representational Art with Bruno Surdo and Mike Chelich, where he studied drawing and painting of the human form. In 1998, he exhibited his triptych Last Supper at Ann Nathan Gallery in Chicago. Figurative realism and portraiture constituted most of the body of Balos' work in the '90s and early 2000s. During that time, Balos returned frequently to Europe to research painting techniques and contents of the old masters' paintings. Balos' work utilizes human figure to portray various ideals and faults of human existence without suggesting solutions. The narrative compositions are intended to be interpreted by the audience, as only then the paintings gain their temporary and subjective meaning. In addition, in Chicago, Balos became an American citizen.
Since 1997 Balos has been represented by the Ann Nathan Gallery in Chicago, where he has held five solo exhibitions. Since 2000 Balos has contributed work to art gallery shows in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Paris, Utrecht and Barcelona; and for art fairs such as The Armory Show in NY, Art Chicago, Palm Beach3, WWK Biennale in Munich, and the Royal Academy's Summer Show in London.
In 2005 Balos relocated to Northern California and since then his body of work has expanded to include looser applications, utilizing abstractions and multi-media techniques and styles. Balos is also teaching drawing and painting privately at his atelier named ArtRoster in California, where they hold Annual Forgery Shows on April 1 of each year.
Solo exhibitions
- 2012 - Paintings, Stock in Art Gallery, Mt.Shasta, CA
- 2011 - New Paintings, Red Door Gallery, Mt.Shasta, CA
- 2011 - Paintings, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL
- 2006 - Figurative Realism, Utrecht Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands
- 2005 - Travaux Récents, by Arts nord sud at Crédit Municipal de Paris, Espace Griffon, Paris, France
- 2005 - New York, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL
- 2003–2004 - New Paintings, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL
- 2001 - Parables, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL
- 1999 - Martyrs & Sinners, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL
- 1996 - Clara Voce Cogito, Chastain Zollinger Gallery, Chicago, IL
Group exhibitions
- 2014 – 5th Annual Art of Painting in the 21st Century, John Natsoulas, Davis, CA
- 2013 – 1748 – 2013 – Retzlaff & Thorndike Galleries, Ashland, OR
- 2012 - Bark!", John Natsoulas, Davis, CA
- 2011 - Black and White", Liberty Art Gallery, Yreka, CA
- 2011 - Female Creature", Liberty Arts, Yreka, CA
- 2009 - Genesis, Chalk Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
- 2009 - Alumni Exhibition, Northwestern Mutual Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
- 2009 - Self Portrait Project, Liberty Art Gallery, Yreka, CA
- 2008 - Dreamscape, Loods 6, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 2008 - WWK Biennale, Pasinger Fabrik, Munich, Germany
- 2008 - Art Chicago, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL
- 2008 - Palm Beach3, Palm Beach, FL
- 2007 - The Painters, Lowe Gallery, GA
- 2007 - Into the Heart of The Southwest, Forbes Galleries New York, NY
- 2007 - All Media, Gallery 180 of The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago
- 2007 - Palm Beach 3, Palm Beach, California Palm Beach, CA
- 2006 - Realism, Utrecht Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands
- 2006 - Acquisition Exhibition, Gallery 180 of The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago
- 2006 - Palm Beach 3, Palm Beach, California Palm Beach, CA
- 2006 - Figure, Figure, Utrecht Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands
- 2005 - The Summer Show, Royal Academy of Arts, London, England
- 2005 - Crucifixion, Mito Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
- 2005 - Palm Beach 3, Palm Beach, California Palm Beach, CA
- 2005 - Form and Substance, Agora Gallery, New York, NY
- 2004 - Art Chicago, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
- 2003 - Art Chicago, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
- 2003 - Armory, New York, N.Y
- 2002 - Art Chicago, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
- 2002 - Young Painters, Miami University, Oxford, OH
- 1999 - The Figure Studied : An Examination of the Historical and Contemporary Perspective on the Human Form, Crossman Gallery, University of Wisconsin, WI
- 1999 - The Chicago Art Scene, Belloc Lowndes Gallery, Chicago, IL
- 1998 - Paintings, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL
- 1995 - Paintings of Figures, August House Studio, Chicago, IL
- 1995 - Elevations, Layton Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
- 1995 - Paintings, David Barnett Gallery/Rice Building, Milwaukee, WI
- 1995 - Annual Spring Show, League of Milwaukee Artists, The Charles Allis Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
- 1991 - Annual Juried Show, 234 Gallery, Kenosha, WI
Distinctions
- Florence Biennale Invited to Florence Biennale 2007
- Forbes Trinchera Residency co-sponsored by American Artist magazine
Publications
- Metamorphosis 2, 2008
- Direct Art Magazine, #13, NY, article Fall 2006
- The Departed, Martin Scorsese, 2005
- Who's Who in International Professionals, 2004
- Miroir de l’Art, Number 4, Paris, 2004
- NY Arts Magazine, his philosophy on art 2002
- G. Jurek Polanski, Parables, Artscopes.net, April 2001
- ArtNet, dealers selling his art his dealers 2000
- New American Paintings, Juried Exhibition in Print, Number 29, Open Studio Press, 2000
- G. Jurek Polanski, Mystical Realism of Eastern and Western Spirituality, Arscope.net, November 1999
- The Chicago Art Scene: Sixty-eight Contemporary Artists, Crow Woods Publishing, 1998
External links
- Official web site of Aleksander Balos
- Aleksander Balos at Ann Nathan Gallery in Chicago, IL
- G. Jurek Polanski april 2001 text
- Aleksander Balos virtual gallery on the Artabus web site
Notes and references
- Glossary: Figurative Tate online. Accessed May 22, 2006
- Glossary: Surreal Tate online. Accessed May 22, 2006
- Glossary: Representational Tate online. Accessed May 22, 2006