If you need to contact me please e-mail to:
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for original paintings contact ann nathan gallery in chicago
bio
Aleksander Balos was born in 1970 in the city of Gliwice, Poland. His father Jan worked in an industrial factory and his mother Janina was a schoolteacher. Neither was a member of the Communist Party (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza or PZPR), and due to Jan’s candid criticisms of government policies during the ’80s, his name was placed on a list to be sent to a Soviet labor camp. Following Janina’s death in 1982, Aleksander’s health declined until he suffered a severe case of rheumatic fever which damaged his heart, rendering him medically housebound at age 14 for a period of six months. Due to his personal challenges and the overall socio-economic climate of mid-’80s Poland, Balos focused his attention over the next few years searching for a means to leave the country and emigrate to the West. In the summer of 1989 at the age of 18 he was able to relocate to the United States after receiving a student visa to attend St. Joseph High School in Kenosha, Wisconsin. While there he received the encouragement of his art teacher Kathy Gagliardi, who assisted him in applying to colleges to study art.
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 experiencing his first museum show at Charles Allis Art Museum, in 1995 Balos relocated to Chicago to study in the classical European atelier program at the School of Representational Art with Bruno Surdo and Mike Chelich. Here he primarily studied drawing and painting of the human form. In 1998, he exhibited his triptych Last Supper at Ann Nathan Gallery in Chicago, which led to subsequent shows in Chicago, as well as in other cities in the U.S. and Europe. 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 the 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 temporal and subjective meaning. While in Chicago, Balos also 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, EXPO Chicago, Palm Beach3, Art Palm Beach, WWK Biennale in Munich, and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 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 also teaches drawing and painting privately at his atelier school ArtRoster in Mount Shasta, where his students host an annual “Forgery Show” on April 1st of each year
resume
education
1995 – Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, WI
1998 – The School of Representational Art, Chicago, IL
solo exhibitions
2013 – Oil 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 – Recent Paintings, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL
2005 – Travaux Recents, Crédit Municipal de Paris, Espace Griffon, Paris, France
2003/04 – 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
2018 – The Forgery Show NY, Morris Adjmi, NY
2017 – Sweet n Low, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
2017 – Spectrum Gestalt 4, BG Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2016 – The Forgery Show, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
2015 – The 3rd Annual Forgery Show, Snow Creek Studios, Mount Shasta, CA
2014 – 5th Annual Art of Painting in the 21st Century, John Natsoulas, Davis, CA
2013 – 1748 – 2013 – Retzlaff & Thorndike Galleries, Ashland, OR
2013 – Bark!, John Natsoulas, Davis, CA
2012 – West Coast Biennial, Turtle Bay Museum, Redding, CA
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 – Palm Beach3, Palm Beach, FL
2007 – All Media, Gallery 180 of The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago.
2006 – Acquisition Exhibition, Gallery 180 of The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago.
2006 – Figure, Utrecht Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands
2005 – The Summer Show, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
2005 – Form and Substance, Agora, New york, NY
2005 – Crucifixion, Mito Gallery, Barcelona
2005 – Paintings, Ivy Gallery,Paris
2005 – Palm Beach3, Palm Beach, FL
2004 – Art Chicago, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
2004 – The Armory Show, New York, N.Y
2003 – Art Chicago, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
2003 – The Armory Show, New York, N.Y
2002 – Art Chicago, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
2002 – Young Painters, The 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
1996 – Clara Voce Cogito, Chastain Zollinger Gallery
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 – Spring Show, The Charles Allis Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI