Jules de Balincourt
b. 1972, France
Evoking notions of utopia and dystopia, Jules de Balincourt’s paintings investigate public and private spaces and suggest an ever-changing landscape – both physical and psychological. In the paintings for which he first became known, de Balincourt worked from the position of an outsider (the Paris-born artist has lived in the United States since childhood), questioning structures of power and influence, laying bare injustices and hypocrisies while maintaining an amused attachment to the myths through which identity – individual and national – is constructed. From big screen legends, such as celluloid cowboy Clint Eastwood (Good, Bad, Ugly, 2008) to newsreel-like pronouncements (United We Stood, 2005), in these paintings de Balincourt employs a post-Pop painterly language to signal shifting sentiments or former glories, made all the more melancholy when they appear etched in mainstream culture.
Jules de Balincourt, born in Paris, France in 1972, lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. De Balincourt's work has been the subject of a number of international solo exhibitions at institutions including Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Málaga (2021); Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel (2015); The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas (2014–2015); Rochechouart Museum of Contemporary Art, Rochechouart (2014); Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal (2013); Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2010) and Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, Nashville (2008). Other significant solo exhibitions include Jules de Balincourt: Birds on a Boat, Pace, Hong Kong (2022); There are more eyes than leaves on the trees, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France (2020); There are more eyes than leaves on the trees, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France; One Island Many People, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen, Denmark; They Cast Long Shadows, Victoria Miro, London, UK (2018); We Come Together at Night, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria (2017); Stumbling Pioneers, Victoria Miro, London, UK (2016).
His work has also been included in a number of significant group exhibitions, including Unnatural Nature: Post-Pop Landscapes, Acquavella Galleries, Palm Beach, FL, USA (2022); Rehang, Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy (2019 - ongoing); Les Enfants du Paradis, MUba Eugene Leroy Tourcoing, France (2019) and Eldorama, Le Tripostal, Lille, France (2019) both as part of Eldorado: Lille 3000 (2019); The Biennial of Painting, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens (MDD), Deurle, Belgium (2018); The New Frontiers of Painting, Fondazione Stelline, Milan, Italy (2017); The Universe and Art, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2016); L'Ange de l'Histoire, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud at le Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris (2013); New York Minute, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow (2011) and the 10th Havana Biennial, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana (2009).